The River of God

Psalm 65:9-10

You visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water;

You provide their grain,

For so You have prepared it.

You water its ridges abundantly,

You settle its furrows;

You make it soft with showers,

You bless its growth.

Thoughts about the river of God have been on my mind this week. On Sunday I preached a new message (so new I had not a scratch of notes to look at; it was all from the heart) about the river; specifically, how the Israelite crossing of the Jordan River was a type and shadow of the New Testament Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then later I blogged about the river that makes glad the city of God, which again is the Holy Spirit flowing in the church. Today, this Psalm caught my attention.

David was writing in the context of a largely rural and agrarian-based society, so water was very important to them. But divine inspiration lends life to this passage that extends beyond the farmer's need for rivers and rain.

The Holy Spirit has always been God's active agent and presence on this planet. In the beginning, the Spirit moved over the face of the deep. In these last days, God has poured out His Spirit on all flesh. That is how He "visits" the earth and waters it, with the river of His Holy Spirit.

The river administers the riches and blessings of God upon God's people.

The river brings fullness into the lives of God's people.

The river prepares the harvest for which we labor, no longer a harvest of grain but of souls.

The river smoothes and softens the soil of our souls and blesses the growth of the seeds planted there.

This is the great work of God's River, His Holy Ghost!