Staying Moist

By Elon Moreh

This originally appeared in the Moriel Bulletin for July 2011.

Summer is most definitely upon us. Mercifully the heat and humidity began late this year. We had our last rain shower on 28th June, very late indeed. It says of Moses that when he died, “his eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated” (Deut.34:7). The Hebrew word translated “natural force” is “לח” (lakh: moisture) from which same root we get the modern Hebrew word “לחות” (lakhut: humidity). Moisture in the context of Moses, meant freshness and vigour. Here on the coast with humidity at 65% and 32 Degrees Celsius in the shade, our moisture certainly has not abated, but our freshness and vigour certainly have. Even slight exertions result in your clothes being completely saturated with your own perspiration and at night here the building walls release the heat absorbed from the sun during the day, so our bedroom (unfortunately the hottest room in the house) is 33-35 Deg. Celsius, plus humidity. If you want to retain your friends frequent changes are de rigeur and it helps to carry a roll-on or spray with you (Summer here is heaven scent for the deodorant manufacturers). Punning apart it's really important in this country to stay moist, now in August we are perspiring so much that we drink about 3 litres a day each of liquid. It's important when you go out for a walk, you either take water with you, or make sure that you pass by somewhere you can obtain it.

I wrote last time about the wadis in the desert, the dry river beds, that can in the rainy season turn into raging torrents and destroy the unwary. These same rivers can kill you in the Summer too. In ancient times, travelers through desert areas would plan their routes to move from water source to water source, be that source oasis, well or river. Imagine the horror of being out of water, arriving at a well or oasis on your planned route, and then finding that the well is dry or the river is no more. We see this in Job 6, where he reproves his “comforters” using this as an illustration.

“My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away. They are dark because of ice; snow is piled up over them. When they are scorched, they dry up, when it is hot, they vanish from their place. Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema looked intently for these streams; the traveling merchants of Sheba hoped for them. They were distressed, because each one had been so confident; they arrived there, but were disappointed.”

Disappointed seems almost an understatement, totally gutted seems more like it. It is beneficial to look up some of the underlying Hebrew words used here in their usage elsewhere, as they express important spiritual ideas. However here we have:

1. “הביטו” (from root hibit here translated “to look intently”, see its interesting usage in Zech 12 “look unto me” and regarding Lot's wife as she “looked back” towards Sodom)
2. “קוו” (from root kavah to wait or hope for)
3. “יחפרו” (from khapar translated “disappointed” meaning to blush with shame)
4. Job accuses his comforters of “dealing deceitfully” (A.V) or “treacherously” from “בגד” (bagad to betray). Job had certain expectations of his friends in his crisis, which were unrealised. These expectations turned out to be false, deceitful even, and he was disappointed (to say the least) in his friends. The modern Hebrew word for disappointment is “אכזבה” (akhzavah) it comes from the same biblical root translated lies, deceit and falsehood when describing the utterances of the false prophets, those who deluded the people by presenting a false hope. We see it in Psalm 89:35:

"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie (from root khazav) unto David."

The LORD promised David that He would not lie to Him, or delude Him with false hope. This should encourage us too.

A false hope is like expecting water in the place where you thought it would be, and finding none. In desert navigation a false hope can kill you. The same principal applies in spiritual things too, bad navigation and believing in false oracles or false hopes can destroy you. But;

“The LORD is good to those who wait (kavah see above) for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him” (Lam.3:25)

Sometimes life deals us a blow. We had expectations that were not met, or desires that are unfulfilled, situations that cause us pain, and sometimes these can go on for a long time. We arrive at the river and find dry sand. We can become resentful of the situations or people that we perceive to be the cause of our disappointments or even bitter and hateful. I know of people who became very bitter and angry against the LORD because they never found a spouse. They became  totally obsessed with this one issue and spent years wallowing in self-pity and resenting the Redeemer, remaining barren and unfruitful in their walk with the LORD, never able to get past this issue, constantly doubting God's love and wisdom. This is self-destructive behaviour and it not only displeases the LORD, but it also only hurts us in the end. I mention this because not long ago I suffered a personal disappointment myself that was quite hurtful to me. It took me a while to "process" what had happened, and to prayerfully come around to see the LORD's perspective. What I felt the LORD spoke to me, I thought might also help others.

• Sometimes we are disappointed because though walking in the general direction which the LORD is leading us, our fleshly imagination fills in the blanks and we get big ideas and deceive ourselves, rather than patiently waiting for Him to reveal what we do not yet see clearly.
• Disappointment will persist with us and grown into resentment, self-pity and bitterness if we are not prepared to bow the knee to His Lordship, submit our own plans, desires, hopes and expectations to Him and let them be nailed to the cross.
• If we have the attitude that "He must increase and I must decrease" (Jn. 3:30)and "not to seek great things for ourselves" (Jer.45:5) then the dashing of our fleshly hopes will become tools and opportunities to shape and conform us the image of His Son. If our goal in life is not to have our hopes realised, but rather that His will may be fulfilled in our lives, and that HE alone becomes our hope, then when we come to a place expecting, and find a dry riverbed or waterless well, we can know that we have a Rock who follows us (1Cor 10:4) and from whom living waters will flow if we will but speak (Num. 20:8)to Him.

I am not saying this is easy or some kind of magic, pain-free, instant-victory, formula. It involves taking up our cross and following Him, but He is the fountain of living waters, even of life itself, and He will never disappoint forsake or fail us. This is the only way stay moist when our hopes dry up.