Combustible Drought

This is Texas now.

For the last year or two, we've been in a drought.  Here in Bryan/College Station, for the year to date, we are over 20 inches behind on the wet stuff.  We were about that much behind last year.  What this means is a warm breath can start a fire.

This extreme drought is paralyzing.  It is destroying crops, killing livestock, and putting ranchers in binds that point toward bankruptcy.  But until the fires, there was very little mention of it in the media outside the local stations.  Droughts just aren't as interesting Severe Weather Phenomenons as, say, a Hurricane on the east coast.  Video of large cracks in dry black dirt is nowhere near as interesting as a weatherman being pummeled by storm surge.

The fires changed that.  Now, people are talking.  Now, the drought matters.

Because the drought is a constant thought these days, I had been thinking a lot about that Psalm that talks about the deer panting for water- Psalm 42, it turns out.  I took the time to read it the other day, and it struck me how closely the drought for my state parallels those droughts we all experience spiritually.  Just look at the first four verses:

                                                                      ¹ As the deer pants for streams of water, 

                                                         so my soul pants for you, my God.                                                                                                     
                                                                       ² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.    
                                                        When can I go and meet with God?                                                                              
                                                                                   ³ My tears have been my food   
                                                    day and night, while people say to me all day long,   
                                                                     “Where is your God?”
                                                                                   ⁴ These things I remember   
                                             as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God 
                                                       under the protection of the Mighty One 
                                                                 with shouts of joy and praise 
                                                                    among the festive throng.

Texas is begging for rain, and it's not uncommon to hear folks talking wistfully about rains of the past.  Talk to someone in a spiritual drought, and it's a similar deal.  "Man, that time when God..."  or "I remember once, we were singing this song, and God showed up."  There is a mournful, longing tone to the voices that speak of these things long gone.


The thing I find interesting about Psalm 42 is that David is not feeling distant from God, yet he feels like he is in spiritual drought.  Verse 8 says, "By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life." (Emphasis mine).  But then, in verse 9:  I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”  God is with David, yet David feels like God has forgotten him.  Why this paradox?


How often have you had moments of clarity in the midst of turmoil?  Or, moments of self-pity in the midst of mountain-top elation?  God is EVER present, yet we can still feel distant.  We may be praying, reading His Word, singing His praises- yet feel dry, distant, and like it's all a lot of hard work for a moment of connection.


Like droughts, this is a natural- if unfortunate- thing.


The problem with spiritual drought is when it becomes combustible drought.  When the work we put in to connect with God becomes 'too hard,' we begin to give up.  We lose hope.  We stop reminding ourselves as David did in verse 11:  Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.


Then, the fires of temptation spark, and we are consumed.  Like the fire in the video above.  I believe, from personal experience, that a loss of hope dramatically increases the chance for sin.  Loss of hope is like the "Red Flag Warning" we get here in Texas when the drought is high and the winds are strong.  Fire danger is high.


Fortunately for us, we can stave off the spiritual fires of temptation much easier than the wildfires that have ravaged Texas.  We can't make it rain on our Terra Firma- but we can seed our spiritual clouds by listening to what David says in verse 11-Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  It seems simple, maybe too simple, but the remedy for a loss of hope is to hope.  Stubborn, unmovable hope.  Fleeting hope is no hope at all.  No, we must hold to a hope that is made of stronger stuff than the 'wishful thinking' kind of hope most of live by.  Our hope cannot be in lesser things, but only in the God who is still there, still saving us.


Still pouring water on our combustible drought of the soul.


Let us also pray for those who are affected by the physical drought and terrible fires.  As they watch their homes be threatened or destroyed, they no doubt wonder where God is in all this- why them?  I, nor anyone else on this planet, can answer that.  Their spiritual drought is nearing the same level of combustion as the grasses and trees around their homes.  Let us intercede, let us offer them the stubborn hope we are clinging to, let us hope when they haven't the strength to do it themselves.  Let us pray to our God the Rainmaker, the Drought-Ender.  

Let us be more like David- who senses God's nearness, yet longs ever more for the cooling drink from the presence of God.