Shine BrightSample

Day Six: Scorched or Strong

I (Kristen) have the opposite of a green thumb. Pity the poor living greenery that comes through my door or onto my porch. I just can’t seem to keep vegetation alive. When it comes down to it, there’s one consistent thing I struggle to do: water my plants. And without water? Yeah. You know where things go from there.

After a summer of watching the beautiful potted flowers I had brought home die a slow, crackly, brownish death (LOL—that sounds so dramatic), Bethany told me she low-key judged me for not making it a priority to water the plants. But then we both realized that the malnourished plants gave us a picture of what happens spiritually when we forget that our daily nourishment comes from time alone with God.

Take a sec to reread Isaiah 58:11: "And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

If you ask me, Isaiah 58:11 is a wow! kind of verse. The picture that we will be guided, satisfied, strong—like a garden whose waters never fail—is breathtakingly beautiful. What’s really crazy? We don’t even have to do the watering! We just have to show up in God’s presence; His living water does it all. His Word nourishes us. Prayer strengthens us. Listening enables us to live out His promises. And worship goes down into our very bones, strengthening us even when we’re in “scorched places.”

Jesus affirmed this to an outsider, a woman most religious people wouldn’t have bothered to notice. Standing at the well from which the woman came to draw water, Jesus declared, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give [you] will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14).

Don’t let your life wither when you know the source of living water. Don’t let your strength fade away because you forget to spend time with God. Don’t let yourself become dry and brittle because you’ve decided you don’t need to be alone with God. Instead, let God’s Word fill you to the point that you’re over-flowing and thriving!

Are you feeling dry or well-watered today? Ask God to help you grow through His Word.