In the beginning, God created man, and He never left. The entire Bible testifies of the God who is with us, even after we left Him.
"And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?'" -Genesis 3:8–9
Where are you?
I don't read this with an angry tone, but a hurt one; the voice of a God whose beloved had wanted to hide in shame among trees rather than be with Him. Where are you is such a fascinating question to ask, and intentional. Because Jesus knew exactly where they were, but He still asked.
I wonder if we ask the same question to God. Asking, where are you when He is right there, with us; wanting and willing us to just come to Him. We delight in Him, but how much more He delights in us. And yet, we chose another path, and it led us onto the dry and cracked earth, a desert wasteland, facing eastbound. That's where our choice to leave God took us.
"...therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." -Genesis 3:23-24
Many years later, the prophet Ezekiel is given a beautiful vision of a huge and glorious river that extends life to the dry ground, pouring out over the desert and covering up the footsteps of all the generations of lost people who trudged away in shame from the garden, trekking east.
Here is the crazy part- the river extends east.
"Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen this?' Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, 'This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.'" -Ezekiel 47:1–9
His Living Water meets us where we are, not where we need to be. Even the temple, His dwelling place, faces east, the direction of the people whom He loves. His river of mercy and compassion pours out towards them, towards us; the lost and sick and those desperate for healing, those thirsty and desperate for water. The dry and barren land Adam and Eve had walked with their heads hung low all those years before, the same trail we retrace, was made into a river; Ezekiel was able to swim in it.
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:19
Do you perceive it? What once was dry ground in the wilderness is now a river, inviting you to come. In Revelation 21:3 a voice from the throne says, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man." That is exactly where the River of Life extends, towards man, making fresh and new all who touches it. Don't stand on the banks, get in. Ankle-deep, knee-deep...further and further, deeper and deeper.
Where are you? The river meets you there. Come and drink.
"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price." -Revelation 22:17
"On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.''" -John 7:37–38
The same One who cried, where are you? cries out and invites you, "come to me and drink." Wherever you may be, come. In Genesis 21, Hagar cries out to her God out of desperation, for her and her son had no water to drink in the desert to which they had been banished. The Lord heard her cries and "God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water" (v. 19). Lift your eyes and remove the veil, Jesus has provided us with a river without price, if we only get off the banks and come. He has done a new thing, He has sprung up a new way for us to be with Him, and He with us. He meets us at a river that flows eastbound.
If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
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