Drought

As I look out over the grassland that runs parallel to the West Shore of Llandudno, I see nothing but uninterrupted brown. Even the hearts of the dandelions and other weeds are becoming charred and shrivelled. It is an unusual sight, because usually you see an endless expanse of green. Parched land in our British Isles comes as something of a shock.

We humans keep going in heatwaves - though I must admit more sluggishly in my case. I don’t do heat. But our minds and spirits still remain active.

In a time of pressure in the wilderness of Judah King David sang this:

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee,
my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. (Psalm 63:1-7 AV)

(I quote from the old version because I love that memorable line, “... in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is”!)

David - maybe following a sleepless night - is up early to seek God. He may be anxious about lack of supplies in a dry desert place, but God is his priority. Often when Christians visit lands in poor and straitened circumstances, people are at least as keen to have the written word of God as other provisions, even though Bible verses will not fill their bellies.

In the midst of his wilderness experience, David thought back to something that had occurred to him in the sanctuary where he worshipped God. He had had a vision of God’s glory that clearly moulded his life in a very profound way that carried him through bad times. It is like when the eminent 16th-century Protestant Reformer Martin Luther was in great heaviness of spirit after he had lit the touch-paper for the Reformation. He was under unremitting pressure from many sides. He defiantly chalked on a board, “I have been baptised”. He may have been going through hard times, but, after all, he had been counted in Christ’s community of the redeemed, and that gave him an awareness that he was a child of God.

During bitter times in my ministry, I have turned to my calling, many years ago, which was quite dramatic. God had called me in a startling and emphatic way, and nobody now was going to deny my title to a place in His ministry.

Above all, when in wilderness moments, I find myself thinking of the last verse of a very precious hymn by William Cooper, “Sometimes a light surprises”:

Though vine nor fig tree neither
their wonted fruit should bear,
though all the field should wither,
nor flocks nor herds be there,
yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
for while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

Mercifully right now Llandudno is delightful despite the heatwave, hopes are high and the abnormally dry spell isn’t about to darken my well contented mood!