All Dried Up

 

T

here is nothing better on a cold, crisp morning than a piping hot bowl of oatmeal.  It gets the day started right, warming you on the inside, keeping the elements outside at bay.  In fact, when you are warm on the inside, life just goes better and cold, wintry days become less of an obstacle and more of a joy.   

 

Lately, this has been my routine.  The Texas weather has been anything but predictable this winter.  One day it is bitterly cold with snow and near-zero temperatures and the next it is mild, sunny, and gorgeous.  One day I’m wearing sweaters and thick gloves and the next day finds me in shorts and a T-shirt.  Go figure!  But the mornings and the evenings are still cool enough to make me appreciate a good, hot bowl of oatmeal and the way it makes me feel inside. 

 

I didn’t used to be like this.  As a little boy, I hated oatmeal and wouldn’t touch the stuff.  My brother liked it but I didn’t!  I never gave oatmeal a fair shake.  But now, it’s a completely different story.  Each week in the grocery store I spend literally fifteen to twenty minutes picking out oatmeal for the coming week.  Will it be maple, brown sugar and cinnamon, apple, raisin and almonds, or the variety pack?  No matter what flavor I finally select, I always buy the instant variety.  Standing over hot stove cooking oatmeal has very little appeal for me.  I love dumping the cereal into the bowl, adding hot water, and then stirring the mixture until the water works its way through the dry mix.  Then I’m ready to enjoy and reap the benefits of that bowl of oatmeal. 

 

Did you realize that our spiritual lives resemble oatmeal in a very real way?  Without water, oatmeal is dry, bland, boring, and useless.  It needs hot water to change it into a form that the body can readily use and that makes it more appealing to the taste buds.  The writer of Psalm 42 knew all too well the effects of a life without God.  He understood how dry and parched our souls become when we don’t have a steady dose of God’s word and His presence.  In Psalm 42:1-2, we read the following, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

 

Do you feel the dryness here?  Can you understand the longing the psalmist feels for God’s presence?  Like a deer searching for a cool pond of water where it can slake its thirst, so the psalmist is searching to satisfy his desire for the Lord.  Inside he is dry, parched, withered, and weak.  He needs to spend time with God, to drink deeply from His word, to drink in as much of God’s spirit and presence as he desires.  That is what God invites us to do.  He wants us to take in as much of Him as we want.  The pond of His word is deep, the streams of His blessings are always flowing, and the reservoirs of His love are never dried up. 

 

When His word gets into our hearts, souls, and minds, we are changed.  When our insides are filled with Him, the outside elements of the world pose no threat to us.  We still must live in the world, we still must face its challenges and trials, but the word of the living God warms us, nourishes us, and prepares us for the road ahead.  But adding water to the oatmeal in my bowl does little good until I stir it in and mix it all together.  The water must work its way through the dried oats until they are all changed from dry, parched, elements to a warm, creamy cereal that I can eat.  In the same way, God’s word must not only be read, but it must work its way into every area of our lives so that it becomes a part of us. 

 

It is my prayer for you today that you will take time to have a healthy dose of God’s word.  Spend time with God, talking with Him, praying to Him, drinking of Him deeply.  The dry areas of your life will soon disappear, and you will be ready to face life with all its hang ups and challenges.  Being warm and satisfied on the inside will always prepare you to face the world outside.  Anyone for a bowl of oatmeal?  I hear the kettle whistling!