“And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.” – Isaiah 48:21
The heat was a welcome change from the colder days that our thermometer had registered the week before. However, the humidity that accompanied the higher temperature was not received as positively; it made the outside feel like a furnace.
I was waiting for friends in a shopping center parking lot and I observed a hard-working construction crew laboring on a new building being erected next door. The heat and humidity created beads of sweat on many of the workers’ faces. Now and then I would see a crewmember go to a water cooler for a refreshing drink. Looking toward the water cooler again, I noticed a water hose winding through the building material, and a flushed worker spraying his arms and shirt to cool off. That kind of refreshment was definitely needed and appreciated in this weather!
Thinking back on that day, I considered the many times a stressful day had made me feel emotionally overheated, sometimes almost to what felt like my boiling point. I would go to the drinking fountain at work hoping for some refreshment, yet that brought little or no relief. The stresses would still be steaming around me, threatening to erupt into a crisis. However, one time I escaped to the elevator on a day like that, and there I whispered a prayer to the Lord. I gave Him the fiery problem. Right in the elevator between the second and third floors, it was as though the Lord sent a river into my dry and parched day. A stream of His love flowed from His heart to mine, and my soul was restored. A calm surrounded me. It was just what I needed that day.
Do you ever feel like your day is getting too “hot,” and your spirit is beginning to languish? If so, ask the Lord to send His cooling stream to your heart. Since my experience in the elevator that day, I have made the elevator my spiritual “water cooler” where I can quickly be refreshed in my spirit by the Lord. However, any location where we can whisper a prayer will do. His healing water will bring strength to your thirsty soul.