There Is A River

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” (Ps 46:4 AV)

 

This river mentioned here is one of three.  The Gihon Spring, originating in the valley of Kidron was the major water supply for the city.  The Siloam Channel was cut from the Gihon spring and circumvented most of the city.  Then there was Hezekiah’s impressive system of aqueducts that diverted water into the capital city.  The point of these systems was to supply the city with an endless supply of freshwater in times of siege.  In fact, some believe this psalm was written during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah.  This is not the case because we know, based on Psalm seventy-two, the first seventy-two psalms are David’s.  This river that comes from streams is the source of life for the city of God.  In good times and in bad times, this river is always flowing.  The city may be walled up and besieged without.  But within, because there is a source of life, there is also gladness.  This is our thought this morning.

When I was a kid, the doctor recommended to my mother I have my tonsils removed.  Way back then, it meant an overnight stay at a hospital.  In fact, it required I spend several nights in the hospital.  I was ten years old at the time.  My mother had eight or nine other children and a husband to tend to, so she could come for a visit, but she had to leave to keep house.  What made this experience worse were several things.  I had a roomy who loved to whip me with a plastic rubber snake.  That is until I grabbed it and broke it in pieces.  Then there was the fact of being in a hospital thirty minutes away from the city where I lived.  If the surgery was in the hospital of my home town, I could have looked out the window and recognized neighborhoods.  The only view I had was facing rural farmland which made the distance to home seem all the more.  But what made this experience all the worse was my mom could not see me until the afternoon and had to leave and get home to make dinner for the rest of the family.  For four or five days, I felt all alone.  The second day, after I had dissected that rubber snake, and I was particularly upset that my mom couldn’t come around like everyone else’s mom, the nurses moved me to a private room with a fully functional T.V.  That was back in the day the patient had to pay extra for a T.V. in their room.  For the next three or four days, the nurses paid a little more attention to me and brought me all the ice cream I could ever eat. 

We can do little to change the circumstances of our lives.  At times, these circumstances seem to entrap.  Yet, the LORD has left us sources that should bring gladness in an otherwise overwhelming and seemingly hopeless situation.  These sources are the word of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the believers, and prayer; to name a few.  This is why the river is singular.  A source that comes from God. The streams are plural.  They come in many forms.  What is interesting about the Siloam Channel and Hezekiah’s aqueducts was how deeply they were dug.  For the most part, they were dug very deeply into the limestone of the area.  It was said of Hezekiah’s aqueducts they were so well hidden, it took almost two millennia until the source of water for the aqueducts could be found.  In other words, they were so deep and well hidden, the enemy could not stop them up.  This is also true of the rivers of life God has provided for us.  There is nothing that can stop them up.  That is unless we refuse to drink from them.  Salvation in Jesus Christ provides far more than an eternal home.  Salvation in Christ provides a source of life by which we can rejoice, even in the toughest times.