While my wife is away visiting grandkids I have been left with the task of keeping her plants watered in our triple-digit desert temperatures. I am not too good at these duties even in moderate temps, which we almost never have. But I do my best!
She is a patient and exceptional waterer of plant life. Green stuff sprouts up everywhere as she takes her time with each plant and lets the water soak into the soil and drain deep down into the roots, supplying it with the right amount of water each day to keep it healthy and nourished.
I, however, take a completely different approach. It is more like a drive-by watering method. I turn the hose up and spray the plant real good and let the pot flood with water and move on to the next one. It is a very efficient and swift watering technique. When I remember to do it, the job is done that day within five short minutes. I just do not understand why, at the end of her trip, the plants have withered leaves that do not look as good as the full bright green ones that she left me with!
This morning while I was performing my drive-by the Lord showed me how our two watering methods are symbolic of how some of are with his Word. Some of us take our time and let it soak in so that it goes deep, nourishing and feeding us. It gives us the vital nutrients we need to survive as we take in a constant, steady stream of his Word daily.
Others of us do a drive-by on Sundays and maybe Wednesdays. We are dry and thirsty and get flooded with the Word, but it runs off our dry soil and doesn't get a chance to soak in and provide us with the amount of spiritual food we need. We sometimes forget to add water during other days of the week and we dry up and wither.
We all need a constant, steady watering of God's Word to keep our hearts softened to receive from him so we will grow strong and have deep roots. When our roots grow deep the winds that blow against us cannot prevail and we are able to stand firm!
Jeremiah 17:8 (NLT) - "They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit."