Summers in my homeland, the Philippines, are really hot and humid with temperatures sometimes rising as high as 100°F. During this season, there is not much rain and all there was, was heat— creating parched places and cracking dry grounds. As a result, crops are destroyed, animals die, and livelihoods devastated. This is a harsh reality among many Filipino farmers who derive their living out from the land.
Parched places, not just in the Philippines, are everywhere today. Global pandemic is a parched place. Racial injustice is a parched place. Poverty is a parched place. Food insecurity is a parched place. Human rights abuse is a parched place. Climate change is a parched place. Denominational survival is a parched place. When you are in a parched place, you can experience isolation, discontent, disruption, conflict, hunger, and even death.
Nevertheless, God promises us from the Prophet Isaiah, that amid the “parched places” of our lives, we can be like “watered garden” where life persists, flourishes, and lives on. We can experience resilience, restoration and rebirth that will “satisfy our needs and will make our bones strong.”
God is speaking the truth of Jesus to and through Isaiah. Jesus says “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)
Everyone who drinks the water Jesus offers will survive and even flourish in parched places. We will survive and flourish not because of us, but because we are watered by the Living Water, Jesus Christ, the One who will never fail.
Prayer
Amid the parched places of our lives, O God, help us to be watered by the Living Water, the One who will never fail. Amen.
Rev. Edgar De Jesus is the pastor of Davis Street UMC in Burlington