Heart Tracks - Let The River Flow

     I recently read the account of a missionary to Southeast Asia's experience with flooding in the area of the city in which they lived.  She said that the street they lived on was "turned into a river flowing by their door."  She and her husband decided to go out and see what was happening as a result of the flooding.  Walking where the water was shallowest, they began to see some amazing sights, a number of which made her feel very unsettled.  Fences covered with slugs, snails and leeches.  Large frogs seeking dry ground, and huge, ugly centipedes swimming on the surface of the water.  As she put it, "The flood seemed to bring things out that normally stay hidden or unobserved."

    The Bible talks a good deal about the "River of God," which flows out from His throne.  It's also called the River of Life.  By whatever name, it's usually linked to the movement of the Holy Spirit, and when the Spirit begins to move, to flow, the results will be very much like what the missionary experienced in her neighborhood.  It will bring things out that normally stay hidden or unobserved.  A lot of those "things" will be very much like the hideous centipede she saw.  As she puts it, "The power behind the flood is mighty.....As we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's power, the embarrassing moments are revealed, the slimy-creepy things are flushed out, the heebie-jeebies of our lives are exposed, and sometimes, a few surprises float out and we say, 'Look at that!  How did that get there?' " 
    There are a number of songs that celebrate and call for the flowing of the River of God.  I wonder though, how willing are we for the flooding of our lives by that river?  One chorus says that where the river flows "it brings healing and life," and it does, but for the healing and life to come, all the vestiges of disease and death must be washed away.  This can be a very disconcerting process.  It means a complete willingness to see what has been lurking within, hidden, unseen, and unobserved, and then, a surrender to the Spirit's taking away, washing away, those "hideous things" we've been so good at not seeing, not observing, and keeping hidden. 
   Most are familiar with the product "Drano."  It's a potent chemical mixture that is used to free the clogged pipes of sinks.  One of their effective ads featured the showing of a clear glass gooseneck pipe filled with all manner of ugly sludge.  The Drano was poured in, and allowed to begin to eat through the gross mass.  This was followed by water flowing into the pipe and washing away all the filth.  Very effective, because sinks don't usually, if ever, have pipes of clear glass.  They're solid, and whatever sludge might be in them, remains hidden to our sight.  What we do know, is that something is keeping the sink from functioning as it was designed.  Sin, it whatever form, habits, attitudes, ungodly ambitions, lust, pride, these are all elements of the sludge that clogs our spiritual life, keep us from functioning as He designed us.  We know something is wrong, but somehow, we put up with the "slow drain" of our spiritual lives until the "clog" makes it so we can no longer function at all.  Where might the clogs in your life and mine be right now?
   The Psalmist prays in 51:2, "Wash away my inequity and cleanse me from my sin."  Are we willing, no, even more, desiring with all our heart for the River of God to flow into and through us?  To have all the sludge that clogs us spiritually, emotionally, even physically, washed away by His cleansing, healing Holy Spirit?  Let the river flow.  Not around us, but through us.  May we truly have the healing and life it brings....wherever it flows, and may it flow to and through us.

Blessings,

Pastor O