Pentecost 7 July
15, 2007
“A Flood of Comfort and Peace”
Isaiah 66:12-14
12
For this is what the LORD says: “I will
extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding
stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so I will
comfort you; and you will be comforted over
14
When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be
shown to his foes.
In the documentary series
“Planet Earth” that was recently on the Discovery Channel, there is some amazing
footage of a dry, dusty riverbed that winds for hundreds of miles through the
Serengeti Desert in Africa. Now how can
footage of a dry, dusty riverbed for hundreds of miles be amazing? Here’s why.
Every year during the rainy season of the year, something incredible happens. Storm clouds hover over the source of the dry
river bed. The rain begins to fall and
the water slowly trickles down the river bed.
It starts as just a small trickle, but eventually the river bed becomes
a temporary river two or three feet deep.
If you could see this happen from a satellite picture’s perspective, you
could watch a massive brown area slowly have a branch of blue snaking through its
midst.
That’s amazing. But that’s only half the story. Hundreds of miles away from both the storm clouds
and the temporary river, a herd of elephants is hot and thirsty. There is no water around them; they can’t the
storm clouds and they can’t see the riverbed.
They have neither a compass nor the Weather Channel. Yet every year, before it even starts raining,
the elephants begin marching to the place where the river will be formed. If they ever left too late or if they made a
wrong turn, the river would be nothing but a dusty riverbed by the time they
arrived. They would certainly die, for this
river is their only chance to survive.
But the elephants always make it.
They leave at just the right time and walk in just the right direction. When their journey is finished, they find
just what they need and more. They cool down, wash off their backs, and drink
their fill. Not only will they
survive. They will flourish.
Can you picture elephants in the
cruel Serengeti now playing in the river after their long journey? Then you are ready to hear verse 12 of Isaiah
66. (read
v.12)
God extends a river of life
to the Serengeti elephants; God extends a river of his peace to us. There are lots of similarities between us and
the elephants. Here are some thoughts
for you to ponder – that the river is the only way to survive, that the river
is a gift of God’s grace, and that the river is plentiful.
The river is the only way to survive. One
of the more disheartening parts of the video shows a baby elephant being
separated from her mother. Clueless in
the desert, the baby elephant finds the tracks of the herd and begins to follow
them! But she is going the wrong
direction. She will never find the
river; she is doomed to die in the desert.
That river is the only way to survive.
If the LORD ever decided, “No rain this year” the elephants would never
survive. They would die for certain. There is no other option.
The river is a gift of God’s grace. The
elephants did not earn the special river.
God did not send it to them because he’s been watching their behavior
and they’ve been good little pachyderms.
They don’t even earn their inner
The river is plentiful – there is more than enough to
go around. The elephants have more than enough water. If God only provided a trickle, they’d have
to worry about spilling or being very careful with what was there. But there is plenty of water. More than enough for all.
The river of peace is the only way to survive.
The river of peace is a gift of God’s grace.
The river of peace is plentiful too. Not just a
trickle. Not even just a stream. A river!
Even in the ups and downs of this life, God’s peace is abundantly
flowing like a river or like a flooded stream.
There is plenty to go around.
This is an overflow. Not only do
we survive because of God’s peace in our hearts – we flourish.
It is obvious that the river
of peace is the only way to have spiritual life. So why do we fall for cheap imitations? Why do we try to find peace in other places? It’s so foolish, yet we do it all the time.
You think you are on the path
to survival, but actually you are the baby elephant wandering out to die.