Water Metaphors

“Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name!
Sing like never before, O my soul!
I’ll worship Your holy name…”

Ah. Beautiful words. This is the chorus to a song called “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman. One of the verses says, “For all your goodness, I will keep on singing…10,000 reasons for my heart to find!”

Every week I find that if I truly sit back and think, I have more reasons to bless and thank the Lord. And this past week (past two, actually) is no exception. For the last two weeks, I have been helping to lead a class that covered Freshwater Ecology in North Carolina & Marine Biology in Florida. Days were chock full of field trips and meeting hydrogeologists, biology professors, wildlife educators, marine biologists, ministry leaders…and even some skim boarding and surfing instructors! We flipped over rocks in streams, tested dissolved oxygen in wells, snorkeled in seagrass and mangrove ecosystems, swam over coral reefs, saw sea turtles and dolphins and manatees! It was a wonderful two weeks. I hope the students learned a lot. I know I was reminded of so much, and as always, continued to learn more. Throughout the class we had 4 big ideas in our class that we kept coming back to:

1. Water is precious and essential for life.
2. Water greatly affects its surroundings (biotic & abiotic).
3. Stewardship of the world includes stewardship of water. (Our actions affect our resources)
4. Water provides many metaphors for spiritual/life lessons.

I could describe in detail everything that we did and learned, but I want to focus on #4. Metaphors. I gave the first devotional, and in order to prepare for it, yet again found myself going back through my journals, searching for ways God had used water as a metaphor to teach a lesson in my life. It wasn’t long before I had a page filled with notes.

a. Lake – A few years back I read a book by Stasi Eldredge called Captivating. Although I don’t agree with everything she says, I have always been affected by her description of a lake in that book. Lakes can truly reflect the beauty around them only when they are still. Likewise, we best reflect the glories of God to others when we are still, calm, and trusting in the Lord. The word “joy” in Greek is chara – literally meaning “calm delight”. True joy results in calmness and delight in the Lord…and a better reflection of Him to others! (Verses: Matthew 8:27, Psalm 23:2, Proverbs 27:19) On my trip, one morning I woke up and was struck by the beauty of the sun on the water. Not only was the sunrise beautiful, but the water was so still – it was like there were two sunrises! One was more beautiful (the real sun), but the other also brightened my day. How much like a reflective Christian! How I also wish to let Christ shine through me so I can help brighten others’ days.
b. Ocean – Someday, the “earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the sea” (Isaiah 11:9, Habbakuk 2:14). Crazy! This past week we reviewed that our earth is covered by at least 70% water. Oh – how much water that is! And how much more I need to learn about the Lord! It would be one thing if the ocean was only what we see at the surface. It’s also DEEP. As is God! “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33) Definitely something worth diving into!
c. River – In college, I listened to a speaker who once compared people to rivers and floods. Rivers are purposeful; rivers focus their energies to flow one direction. Floods, however, almost always cause destruction because their energies are not focused. Both can be powerful – but in life, we should be rivers, not floods. In this class, we learned about the destructive powers of floods as we reviewed the history of our valley in NC…the excessive damage was partially humans’ faults because of the number of “impervious” or impenetrable surfaces that cause more extreme flooding. But we also saw the amount of life living in mountain streams if you just take the time to turn over rocks!
d. Fountain – “As they make music they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you’” (Psalm 87:7). “For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Fountains are deep – and can be the source of with clean, refreshing water…but they can be contaminated. What is the state of my heart? Is it focused on the Lord? Because wherever my heart dwells, that will spring up out of me…eventually in thoughts, words and actions. These past weeks we saw that fresh water can sustain more abundant and diverse life…contaminated water limits life.
e. Cisterns – “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). People are concerned about having enough water…they build reservoirs to keep it protected, and try as much as they can to keep them from contamination. But contaminants can come with leaks and cracks. And water can be lost with leaks and cracks. As with the last metaphor – God should be our fountain and source…but once we receive his grace and love and wisdom…are we losing it because we are trying to do things and hold onto things on our own? Are we being affected by “contaminants” that we should not let into our lives? We not only need God as our Source, but also as the one who holds us together.
f. Rain – Rain storms. We had a day where we quickly returned to shore from the ocean, due to some stormy weather. Storms are powerful! It was intriguing how the storm stirred up the silt and sediment on the bottom of the water and made the waters in the mangrove bays murky and brown. Storms in life can stir up some things we thought we had hidden underneath the surface, eh? Yet, however dirty we are – we can be clean. And we can be confident at His consistency…like the sun always rises, God will always be there. (“Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:3)).
g. Icebergs – For every 10% of an iceberg we see above the surface of the water, there is approximately 90% below the surface. A speaker I heard once (Dr. Elmore) used this as a metaphor: the 10% above the water line is equivalent to our skills, and the 90% below is equivalent to our character. “It’s what’s below the water line that causes the ship to sink.”
h. Hot & Cold Water – “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Ugh. Who likes drinking lukewarm water? This verse was written to a church in Laodicea, one situated between two other cities known for their water. Hierapolis, approximately 7 miles away, was known for its hot, therapeutic waters. Colossae, about 12 miles from Laodicea, was known for its cold, refreshing waters. Laodicea had no water source of its own and by the time it transported water from one of these two cities, the time, coupled with minerals/metals from the piping systems, most likely made this water lukewarm and worthy of spitting out of anyone’s mouth. Hot and cold water were both good things – and this metaphorical use of water temperature was a reminder to not be lukewarm in another sense: in relationship to God. Be useful as hot water (therapeutic); be useful as cold water (refreshing). But don’t be useless. I found a quote in my journal from what I think was a “Despair Poster”. It goes like this: “Mediocrity: It takes a lot less time and most people won’t notice the difference until it’s too late.” Oooh. Being lukewarm takes a lot less time and energy. But it will be something we look back on and wish we had changed.

Jeepers. I hope those metaphors make sense. I’ve cut down my list a bit – but I’ve always been amazed at how God really can speak to our hearts through the things around us. I think metaphors can drive truths home that seem abstract when you first hear them. Some of my students came up with their own metaphors and devotionals on water:

a. Rivers have little eddies where water gets trapped and becomes stagnant. But just because some water gets stuck in an eddy doesn’t mean it has to stay there. It can get back out and rejoin the river.
b. Clean water could someday become like the new oil – something people fight over. But we are reminded in Mt 6 that we don’t have to worry about what we will eat or drink. God will provide…but we do need to be wise and take care of what he’s given us.
c. Water molecules are small, and seemingly insignificant on their own. But water molecules, because of their composition of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (and polarity), will always be able to join with other water molecules. They can be stronger together than they would be apart. Just like water molecules, Christians need other Christians to encourage them in their walks. And we can affect others in a positive or negative way, just like pure or polluted water will have an effect on the water they join.
d. Mangrove trees can live in salt water, but have adapted to either be salt-excreters or salt-excluders to deal with the salt they find themselves in. As Christians, we should be in the world. We shouldn’t hide from it. But we are not to be of it, and we need to learn how to interact with the world around us.

Neat thoughts, eh?

I truly think that going outside and interacting with the world around us gives us more than 10,000 reasons for our hearts to sing. The world is designed so amazingly! And there are so many pictures of abstract truths if we just look. Water is only one aspect. May we never miss opportunities to bless and thank the Lord…and learn more about Him through His beautiful creation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jYLTn4fKYQ