Kerry Shook - River of Life
Well, this weekend, we're concluding this series, "Rivers in the Desert," as we're looking at how God wants to bring a river of blessing right to us in the middle of life's problems and pressures, and it's based on this passage, Psalm 126:4, "Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev". Now, the Negev is a vast desert in southern Israel, and maybe today you find yourself in the middle of the desert of life. I mean, you're just worn out by the overwhelming problems that have left your soul depleted. Are you just feelin' empty? Maybe you're feeling like your joy is drying up, and your hope is starting to die, and you'll never make it out of this desert that you're going through. Well, I've got good news from God's Word for you today.
God wants to bring a river of life right into the desolate and dying places in your life. Just like the rivers that flow in the Negev after a rain, God wants to bring a river of life into your life. The rivers that flow in the Negev bring all that is dormant back to life, and God wants to bring you back to life again. God wants to bring your hope alive again. God wants to bring your joy back to life. God wants to bring his river of life right into your life and change the desert you're in to an oasis of life. I believe that with all my heart that God wants to do that in our lives today. So let's look at this river of life in Isaiah 43.
Would you stand in honor of God's Word? And I love this promise. This was a promise given to the people of Israel, but it's also given to us. Follow along with me: "Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I'm about to do something new. Even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert". You can be seated. There it is, again, rivers in the desert. God gave this promise to the people of Israel while they were in captivity in Babylon, but God says, "Hey, I'm gonna do somethin' new and miraculous for you. I'm gonna take you out of captivity in the desert of Babylon you've been in for years, and I'm gonna bring you back home".
Before the Israelites, it looked like there was no way this could ever happen. There was no way this was possible, but God said, "I'm already makin' a way. Nothing is impossible with me". The Israelites also knew that, if God did work that miracle and bring them back home, their home, Jerusalem, was now a desolate place. It had been destroyed and deserted for years, but God says, "Oh, don't worry about that. I've got that covered. I'm gonna bring a river of healing and restoration right into your life and give you everything you need to restore Jerusalem". God said, "I am gonna take you out of the desert of death and change that desert into a river of life".
This is really a two-fold promise. God is saying, "I'm gonna deliver you out of the desert of your past, and I'm gonna change the desert of your future into an oasis of life". That's what God says to us today. He wants to deliver us from the desert of our past, and he wants to change the desert of your future to bring you into your destiny, to turn it into an oasis of blessings. Now, God wants to bring you a river of life that turns your desert into a place of provision, a place of hope, a place of healing, but I want us to see this process that God takes the people of Israel through the get them to the river of life, and it's the same journey we have to go through to reach the river of life that God has for us.
The first stage is always the drought of delay. You know, earlier, God promised the Israelites that he would deliver them from captivity in Babylon and bring them back to their homeland, to the Promised Land, but he says, "Not yet. I'm gonna do that, but not yet". You see, they had to go through the drought of delay. The Israelites had to wait for years going through this drought of delay because there's always a time line where we go through the drought of delay, and we're waiting on God, and we hate to wait on God. It feels like the drought is gonna last forever, that the downpour is never going to come, that God has forgotten us, but there's always a delay between the promise and the Promised Land. There's always a time of waiting between the time God gives you a promise and the time God fulfills the promise. That's just part of God's plan to build our faith.
Looking back at Habakkuk 2:3. What a powerful promise from God, and I know this promise is for somebody out there today. You're waiting on God, and it feels like God is nowhere around, that he's forgotten about you, but here's what he says: "These things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient. They will not be overdue a single day". "They will not be overdue a single day," because God's timing is always perfect.
God is never too late. God is never too early. God is always on time. The problem is God's timing is not our timing, and sometimes we can't see what God is up to when we're in that waiting period. We're goin' through that drought of delay. We don't understand what God's up to, but it's in the time of waiting that God develops our character. It's always God's process to bring us through that drought of delay because, if we didn't go through the drought of delay, we would never be prepared for the downpour of blessings that's coming. God uses the time of waiting to prepare us for a new position. God uses the time of waiting to build our character to match our calling.
You see, it always takes that time of waiting to prepare us for the blessing that's coming because, otherwise, we wouldn't be ready for it. We might miss it. We may not see it. We may not be able to handle it, and so, if you're goin' through the drought of delay, get ready for the downpour of God's blessing. Just be patient. You see, God's timing is not our timing. That's why this passage says, "Don't despair if it seems slow". It's comin' to you at just the right time because God's timing is always perfect, and this time of waiting is just preparing you. This delay of drought is just preparing you for the downpour of blessings that is on its way. You know, Abraham went through this drought of delay.
God promised Abraham he'd be the father of a great nation, yet he and his wife Sarah were unable to have children. They waited years and years, and it felt like God would never fulfill the promise, but what did he do during the time of waiting? Romans 4:20, tells us, "Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises". Abraham clung to God's promise even when he had nothing else to hold on to. That was all he had.
Abraham was saying, "Hey, I don't see it, God. It looks impossible, God. It's humanly impossible, but I know you're the God of the impossible, and I trust the promise you gave me. I'm just in the drought of delay. I'm just in a time of waiting. You gave me your promise, and I know you'll fulfill that promise, so I'm just gonna keep on believing". You know, he said, "I'm in the middle of the drought right now, but I'm gonna trust you that the downpour is on its way". Faith is not denying you're in the desert when you're right in the middle of the desert and the heat is on. Faith is not denying that you're in the desert. It's just expecting the downpour to come, believing God and trusting God. Just keep believing. Keep trusting.
The drought of delay usually turns into the dust storm of doubt where we're waiting on God to come through, and it feels like he's forgotten us. That's when the dust storm of doubt starts kicking up and swirling around in our mind. We begin to doubt that God knows where we are, that God even cares about us, that God's ever going to come through. That drought turns into doubt, and there's zero visibility. We can't see what God is doing. We don't know what God is up to.
Some of you know, a few years ago, our family went on a raft trip on the Colorado River, down the Grand Canyon, and it was an eight-day trip. We went all the way through the Grand Canyon. It's a pretty amazing thing, kind of a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but I have to tell you, it was in the middle of the summer, and it was about 100 degrees, dry, and hot in the middle of the Grand Canyon, down at the bottom.
Now, when you're rafting during the day, it was fine because the Colorado River was really cold, and it would splash up on you, and it felt so good. And I remember that first day. We were rafting down the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River with our whole family. It was amazing, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this is the best trip ever, and it's only eight days. It's gonna go by so fast. I wish it was 15 days. That would be wonderful". But then we parked our rafts, as it started to get dark, on a little island. After about 30 minutes, we were all lying in a pool of sweat, and every one of us came outside our tent about the same time and go, "Oh, man, well, we gotta sleep outside," so we brought our sleepin' bags outside, slept on our sleepin' bags outside, and we never put up a tent the rest of the time.
And it was a little better outside, but in the Grand Canyon, in the summer, there is this hot, dry wind that just blows through the canyon all night long. It was kind of like someone with a hair dryer on the highest, hottest setting, holdin' it in front of your face all night long. That's what it felt like. My son Ryan said, "It felt kind of like my golden retriever breathing in my face all night," and I said, "That's exactly what it was". And then the wind would blow up the dust and the sand, and you would wake up with sand, just, stuck to your lips and in your mouth and in your teeth and in your eyes and all through your clothes, and I'll never forget waking up that first morning. There were only two questions swirling around in my mind.
Number one, "We paid money to go through this?" and, number two, "It's only day one. We've got seven more days to go. How in the world am I ever gonna make it"? And, by the way, if you ever find out you have eight days to live, do that trip. It won't help ya live longer, but it'll feel like the longest eight days of your life. And that's kind of the way it feels when you're in the desert of delay. When you're waiting on God, it feels like you'll never make it through. You wonder how you're gonna get through that desert. You wonder if the downpour will ever come, and you begin to believe that God has forgotten about you.
We'll look again in Isaiah 43:19. God says, "See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it"? God's saying, "Just because it looks, to you, like I'm not doing anything in your life, I just want you to know I'm working. Just because it looks, to you, like there's no way out, I want you to know I'm already makin' a way for you, and the river of life is getting ready to spring up in your life. Be lookin' for it". You see, in the desert, there are all these cisterns. In fact, people have lived in the Negev for thousands of years, and we wondered how in the world did they live here. Well, they would dig cisterns, and that's how these towns would start. They would dig these cisterns because they knew it was gonna rain.
Sometime, it was gonna rain, and when it rained, they wanted to catch the rivers that flowed, to flow into their cistern, so they'd be ready for the blessing. And those cisterns would fill up with water. They would have enough water to drink, water for their animals, water for their crops, and they could live and thrive in the desert because they were ready for the rain. And so, when you're going through this drought of delay, and the dust storm of doubt is swirling all around you, I just want you to know you better prepare for rain.
Dig that cistern by just digging your heels in and saying, "I don't see it. It looks like it's impossible, but, God, I'm gonna expect rain to come, and I know you're gonna do what you need to do in my character to prepare me to catch this blessing. I'm gonna dig a cistern. I'm gonna grow in you. I'm gonna be in church. I'm gonna get in the Life Group. I'm gonna spend time with you, God, because I'm gonna expect you to come through even when I don't feel it". God says, "Just because you can't see that I'm working in your life doesn't mean I'm not working. I'm doin' somethin' new that you can't see, and it's gonna spring forth".
But many times, God will lead us through the delay and through the doubt right to a dead end. You think it's gonna get better, but then you hit the desert of dead end. That's where you come to the place where you know there's no way you're gonna get through this problem. You're totally overwhelmed, but with God, a dead end is never the end. It's just that place he brings you to right before he delivers you. It's kind of God's pattern to build our faith. We go through the delay, and then we get to a dead end, but it's not the end. It's really just the beginning. It's a beginning place. God will lead you into the wilderness of no way, where you get to this place where it seems like there's no way out, that you're stuck in the desert. He will lead you to this place where there's no way to fix this problem.
There's no way to change this circumstance. There's no way to make it through this wilderness, and you know it's a dead end, and you've tried everything else. There's nothin' else you can do. When you come to that place, you're in a good place 'cause you're in the place where God does his greatest miracles. God does his greatest miracles in the wilderness of no way, when he brings you to that dead end and there's nowhere to look but up, and you turn to God, and you see that he comes through. Abraham and Sarah experienced the wilderness of no way. I mean, talk about a wilderness of no way.
Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah was 90, and they still hadn't had a child, and God said, "You're gonna be the father of a great nation". He told him earlier when he gave him the promise, "Look at the stars, Abraham. You can't count the stars, can you? Well, that's how many descendants you're gonna have. I'm gonna do something amazing in your life and through your life. I'm gonna bless the nations through your life," and, yet they still hadn't had one son, and I'm sure Abraham looked at his body and said, "No way, God," and he looked at Sarah and said, "Double no way. I don't think this is happenin'".
I mean, talk about the wilderness of no way, they were right in the middle of it. It was not humanly possible, but in the wilderness of no way is where God works his greatest miracles. And then he gets all the credit because there's no other way but God. And it's in the wilderness of no way that God turns us to his way so he can deliver us. It usually takes the river... or it usually takes that wilderness of no way to bring me to the place where I am at the end of my way, and then I surrender to God's way so he can make a way in the wilderness for me. You see, if we never went through the wilderness of no way, we would never come to the end of our way, which doesn't work.
When you get to the dead end, you finally surrender to God's way, and when he makes a way, you see that God is real, that God cares about you, that God always fulfills his promises, that God always keeps his word, that you can count on him, and it builds your faith. I want you to look again at Isaiah 43, verse 19, God says, "Indeed I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert". God's sayin' to someone today, who's in the wilderness of no way, "I want you to know that I can make a way where it looks like there's no way. I will make a way where it looks like there's no way, and I wanna bring a river of life right into your desert of death and desolation because I'm an expert at makin' a way where there looks like there's no way. You're at a place of dead end, and I want you to know you're at the greatest place you could be for a miracle of God".
So many times, God brings us to a dead end so that he can deliver us, and if you're at a dead end where you're just lookin' at God, because there's nowhere else to look, you're in the perfect place for God to work a miracle in your life. It's just the place of dead end. It's just the wilderness of no way, and God says, "I will make a way in that wilderness. Not only will I make a way, but I'll send a river of life right to you to change the desert you're in into an oasis of life". I love Isaiah 43:19, "God'll make a way in the wilderness".
God can bring his river of life right into the empty and barren places in your life. God can bring his river of healing right into the broken and desolate places in your heart, and God can make a way, where there seems to be no way, in the wilderness you're in right now, but if you wanna experience this river of life that brings you back to life again, the river of life is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ offers you the river of life. He wants to give you the river of life to bring you to life again, to make a way in your wilderness, but if you want to experience the river of life, you've gotta run to where the river runs.
We said last week that there are these wadis in the desert, these paths where rivers have run, and everyone knows, if you want water when it rains, that's where the river is gonna run, and you go to those places if you want water, and the river of life always runs in the same places, the same basic places. The river of life, and you gotta run to where the river is. You've gotta run to where the river is running if you're gonna experience the river of life, and I'll tell you where the river of life runs. It runs right through relationships. It runs right through relationship because you were made for relationship, a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, and relationships with some other people, some other Christ-followers who don't have it all together, but they're goin' the right direction, and they can encourage you, and they can stick with you through good times and bad, and you do life together.
You were made for relationships, and some of you are wondering why you feel so empty and burned out. It's because you're running around in a desert of busyness, and it leads to death. You're running around in a desert of just doin' all these important things, but you're not doin' the thing you were made for; relationship. You've gotta run to where the river runs, and the river of life runs right through relationship. And Chris said last week that we've been with a lot of people at the end of their life, and their biggest regrets are always relationships. It's always "I wish I'd have spent more time with God. I wish I would've done more to build the kingdom of God. I wish I would've spent more time with my family. I was always doin' these important things, but I missed out on the real important things".
It always comes down to relationship because you were made for relationship. It's just that we feel like we're too busy for it. And sometimes, it takes the end of our life to give us clarity on what we've missed out on, the whole reason why we were created for relationship. I'm telling you, if you want the river of life to fill you up, bring you back to life again, to bring your joy back to life, your hope back to life, your purpose back to life, you gotta run to where the river runs, and the river of life runs through relationship, but I want you to also see there's a second thing you gotta do to run to the river, and that's place all your hope in God.
You gotta be all in. Take that little bit of faith you've got left, the little bit of hope you've got left and place it all on God Almighty. Abraham and Sarah did that, and God provided the miracle. They had Isaac. And Abraham became the Father of two great nations, the Jewish nation and the Arab nation, and in Romans 4:17, it says "This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations". Says, "Even though there was no reason for hope, Abraham just kept on hoping".
He kept hoping in the God who brings dead things back to life. He kept hoping in the God who makes new things out of nothing. And maybe you feel like you're in a desert of death right now, a dead end. Take the little bit of hope you've got left, the little bit of faith you've got left, and place it all on him, and go all in on him, all in on the one who can do something new in your life out of nothing, all in on the one who can make a way in the wilderness for you where there seems to be no way, all in on the one who takes dead things and can bring them back to life again because he's getting ready to bring you back to life again.