The roar of the waterfall

I

Psalm 42

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    ‘Where is your God?’
⁴ These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon – from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

⁸ By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me –
    a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
    ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?’
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    ‘Where is your God?’

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Saviour and my God.

(NIV 2011) 

There is something about the sound of water, whether it be the roar of a waterfall, a babbling brook or the waves crashing against the shore. I have been drawn to the sounds of God's creation of late, the sounds that can be so easily passed over. In the quietness of the morning the pitter patter of rain on the window pane seems to sing a different song than it does when you are running for the car on a wet afternoon. On mornings where it hasn't been raining, they have been few and far between of late in the UK, the dawn chorus breaks through the stillness as the darkness as night turns to day. A different song is sung again by the wind at night as it rustles through the trees and whistles through the valleys. Each song is beautiful in its own right. Each has its own mood as every song has, although perhaps the song we hear depends on our own mood? God speaks loud and clear in so many ways through creation and it's many songs. God continues to speak to us, and reassure us even when we fail to stop and listen. He speaks through the songs of creation even when we sleep.

Waiting

 

I have spent much of my time in the garden these last couple of days. Lots of pulling of weeds, cutting of hedges, and digging of soil has taken place. I have also spent lots of time garden planning. We can plan all we want to but, as any gardener will tell you, you don't have full control. Sure, you can rip out and tear down whatever we want but try to grow something in a sunny spot that does not like full sun and you are on to a looser. Plants need the right kind of soil and conditions for them to flourish. People are much the same. We all need to be loved, nurtured, fed and watered. We need to right conditions to grow well and to bare fruit. I love apple trees. I love seeing those first buds appear and burst into flower and then for the flowers turn into the most tiniest apple like shapes. (I am sure there is a name for whatever they are called, apart from tiny little apples - no idea what that is though.) The best thing is to watch the apples grow and ripen ready to be picked. Who can resist the mouth watering delicious taste of a crunchy apple straight from the tree. Not to mention apple crumble and ice-cream, or lashings of custard if you are my husband. Yum! 

Today as I looked out on my garden that was being watered by the rain I saw a tiny bird sat on the rooftop. What on earth was it doing sat in the rain? It, like me, was waiting. Waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to come out again. I don't like the rain but without it nothing grows. The Christian walk can be a bumpy ride sometimes and sometimes we hit a stormy patch. Life has many twists and turns but it is through the rough stormy times that we grow the most. It is perhaps these times that draw us closer to God, sometimes kicking and screaming. 

This morning I have been reading Psalm 27, here it is:

 

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
    to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.

³ Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.

⁵ For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
    and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.

⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.

Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.

¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

¹³ I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.
NIV (2011)

This is my prayer today, may it be yours to.