I know the pain associated with kidney stones from none other than personal experience but confirmed by those who grimace and say they can identify as well. At my annual check-up the urologist always asks if I'm drinking plenty of water. I have been told that by the time I feel parched, that my body is already dehydrated. I have to admit that often I am too "involved", especially this time of summer, on the grounds or woods of Quiet Rest, to yield to the pangs of thrust, stop, and go back to the house or shop. "You know better than that, Bill," my doctor reprimands. "I can assure you're gambling on developing more stones." "haven't you learned your lesson?" I flush give a jackass grin and commit to develop a "great plan of staying hydrated." When backsliding a week or so ago, and headed toward my stash of water bottles in the rain barrel, the old western song by Hank Williams flooded my mind: "Cool Water." Some may think I need a mental clinician to tell me what's going on here but after familiarizing myself with the lyrics:
All day I've faced a barren waste
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear, water
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear, water
The nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star's a pool of water
Cool water
And with the dawn I'll wake and yawn
And carry on to water, cool clear water
Each star's a pool of water
Cool water
And with the dawn I'll wake and yawn
And carry on to water, cool clear water
Keep a-movin, Dan, dontcha listen to him, Dan
He's a devil, not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan, can ya see that big, green tree?
Where the water's runnin' free
And it's waitin' there for you and me?
Water, cool clear water
He's a devil, not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan, can ya see that big, green tree?
Where the water's runnin' free
And it's waitin' there for you and me?
Water, cool clear water
The shadows sway and seem to say
Tonight we pray for water
Cool water
And way up there he'll hear our prayer
And show us where
There's water, cool clear water
Tonight we pray for water
Cool water
And way up there he'll hear our prayer
And show us where
There's water, cool clear water
Keep a-movin, Dan, don't you listen to him, Dan
He's a devil, not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan, can ya see that big, green tree?
Where the water's runnin' free
And it's waitin' there for you and me?
Water, cool, clear, water
Cool, clear, water
He's a devil, not a man
And he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan, can ya see that big, green tree?
Where the water's runnin' free
And it's waitin' there for you and me?
Water, cool, clear, water
Cool, clear, water
I am satisfied my psyche remembers the pain experienced with stones and informs me, even through frustrated and silly dreams at the point of awakening and drinking some water. I can't dream my thirst away because my brain knows I need to stay hydrated under all circumstances.
Well, apparently I'm in a company of such dreams and frustrated dreamers of centuries ago. I read of the prophet Isaiah who described them perfectly. "Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating and wakes up still hungry, or a thirsty person dreams of drinking and wakes up faint, still thirsty, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion." The passage is one of several prophecies God gave Isaiah concerning the nation of Israel. Isaiah was describing the attitude of their invaders, who believed they were tasting victory, but would wake to disappointment. It was a promise to the people of God: those who lick their lips at the thought of their demise will ultimately be frustrated. Certainly there have been, and will continue to be, similar occasions when the world has prematurely celebrated the unraveling of belief and believer. Yet "the trees of the LORD are well watered," praised the psalmist.
Even so, though frustrated-thirst was promised of God's enemies, in the same chapter of Isaiah, God laments over the dry and empty faith of Israel itself. "These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote," continues the passage in Isaiah 29. They were dreaming of well-running springs and manmade reservoirs, putting the kind of water to their lips that would only leave them thirsty. Isaiah describes a people surrounded by the living waters of the kingdom but preoccupied with make-believe mansions and their pools.
I've been thinking, of late, that today's frustrated dreamer is probable closer to home than ancient Israel. I believe that the dryness of faith and heart is a struggle as unsettling as unquenchable thirst. My observation is that, spirituality is popular, religion is dismissed, and faith is often obscured or synthetic. At times it is like my dream; many folks can't seem to get enough water because they are drinking from artificial wells. Other times, I admit, dryness comes without explanation. I was illustrating to a father and mother who where concerned for their children's and teen's spiritual development and church life while attending a mega church; the possibility of standing before living water unable to drink and be satisfied, seeing that the well is deep but not having anything to draw that water with.
As a Christian longing to know and to be known by God, dryness of faith does not elude me either. An old song written by musician Keith Green has often captured my prayer in the midst of thirst and drought. "My eyes are dry, my faith is old. My heart is hard; my prayers are cold. And I know how I ought to be—alive to You and dead to me. Oh what can be done for an old heart like mine? Soften it up with oil and wine. The oil is You, Your spirit of love. Please wash me anew in the wine of your blood." I see over and over again, where men and women throughout Scripture found similar respite for maddening thirst as they cried out to God within the very pangs of that thirstiness and hold the conviction that my thirst, too, is something I can give to God. Though the land is weary, my heart shall faint for the One who promises to reach weariness with sustenance and hunger with an actual meal for families like this one that know the difference. "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever" John 4:14. To the dry and emptied faith of Israel God provided a spring. And I believe strongly; for me, my generation, Baby Boomer, Xer, Millennial and Internet generations, the water of life remains a gift for quenching thirst.
Well, apparently I'm in a company of such dreams and frustrated dreamers of centuries ago. I read of the prophet Isaiah who described them perfectly. "Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating and wakes up still hungry, or a thirsty person dreams of drinking and wakes up faint, still thirsty, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion." The passage is one of several prophecies God gave Isaiah concerning the nation of Israel. Isaiah was describing the attitude of their invaders, who believed they were tasting victory, but would wake to disappointment. It was a promise to the people of God: those who lick their lips at the thought of their demise will ultimately be frustrated. Certainly there have been, and will continue to be, similar occasions when the world has prematurely celebrated the unraveling of belief and believer. Yet "the trees of the LORD are well watered," praised the psalmist.
Even so, though frustrated-thirst was promised of God's enemies, in the same chapter of Isaiah, God laments over the dry and empty faith of Israel itself. "These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote," continues the passage in Isaiah 29. They were dreaming of well-running springs and manmade reservoirs, putting the kind of water to their lips that would only leave them thirsty. Isaiah describes a people surrounded by the living waters of the kingdom but preoccupied with make-believe mansions and their pools.
I've been thinking, of late, that today's frustrated dreamer is probable closer to home than ancient Israel. I believe that the dryness of faith and heart is a struggle as unsettling as unquenchable thirst. My observation is that, spirituality is popular, religion is dismissed, and faith is often obscured or synthetic. At times it is like my dream; many folks can't seem to get enough water because they are drinking from artificial wells. Other times, I admit, dryness comes without explanation. I was illustrating to a father and mother who where concerned for their children's and teen's spiritual development and church life while attending a mega church; the possibility of standing before living water unable to drink and be satisfied, seeing that the well is deep but not having anything to draw that water with.
As a Christian longing to know and to be known by God, dryness of faith does not elude me either. An old song written by musician Keith Green has often captured my prayer in the midst of thirst and drought. "My eyes are dry, my faith is old. My heart is hard; my prayers are cold. And I know how I ought to be—alive to You and dead to me. Oh what can be done for an old heart like mine? Soften it up with oil and wine. The oil is You, Your spirit of love. Please wash me anew in the wine of your blood." I see over and over again, where men and women throughout Scripture found similar respite for maddening thirst as they cried out to God within the very pangs of that thirstiness and hold the conviction that my thirst, too, is something I can give to God. Though the land is weary, my heart shall faint for the One who promises to reach weariness with sustenance and hunger with an actual meal for families like this one that know the difference. "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever" John 4:14. To the dry and emptied faith of Israel God provided a spring. And I believe strongly; for me, my generation, Baby Boomer, Xer, Millennial and Internet generations, the water of life remains a gift for quenching thirst.
