GOD has done it!

I just read this in my quiet time:

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.  I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys.  I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. ...that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it."  -Isa 41:17-20

That they may see and know... This is a precious phrase (or variant of a phrase) to see in scripture.  God owes us nothing.  He never has to reveal his motives or plans to us.  But to catch glimpses of what he's doing behind the scenery of our lives is always heartening.

There are days when I've felt thirsty...thirsty for certainty, for clarity, for direction, for stregnth... The Bible tells us in numerous places that God has promised not to forsake us - so why then do we thirst?  I can feel forsaken in those times.  

This verse tells us that God's intention isn't to leave us thirsty forever.  He withholds the water so we turn to him for it - and when he grants it, it's with the purpose of making us understand that He is our supplier, our wellspring.  He is the source of our satisfaction.  Any of god's gifts are meant to point us back to him.  Sometimes he lets us thirst so that he can get our attention back from something else we've pinned it on.

There's another place in scripture where language like this is used.  These words were spoken by Moses as he was presenting the people of Israel with the original tables inscribed with the Ten Commandments:

"And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ...Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments..., lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built good houses and live in them, and when ...all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness...that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.  Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'  You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day." Selections from Dueteronomy 8

This is clear and hope-giving.  God let the people of Israel hunger in the wilderness, then provided their food to point them back to himself, their true source of sustainance.  And he warns them against ever thinking that their needs are met merely by their own stregnth, stating bluntly that, though they work, it is God who is behind their ability to work at all - and he does it to show his care for a people whom he's set his love on, to show again his faithfulness to his promises and committment to his covenant.

So, I don't think it's a leap in logic to confidently say that, when we're in trial, God allows us to thirst or hunger in order that we might realize our need, then, when he fulfills our needs, we'd say "GOD has done it!"

I've felt poor and needy and thirsty.  I feel like I've been allowed to hunger in a terrifying wilderness.  Today is day 15 in the countdown to Stephan finishing graduate school.  His masters has been a long row to how, as they say (abundantly moreso for him than me!).  And now that I'm nearly done, I can look back and see wonderful patterns.  When I needed water, God provided refreshment through his spirit when I prayed or others prayed for me.  When I needed food, he fed me through his word, in both my personal readings and other believers bringing it to me.  And afterward, every time I've said in my heart God has done it.  Every time he meets a need, I'm reminded more and more how much I need him to meet it.  Beyond that, every new time I give a little less thought to looking for water or food in another place - I just come to God quicker and quicker in the first place.  This is good training!

I realize this post has a gloomy tone - but I want to clarify that I'm not gloomy!  This is weighty but exciting stuff to have seen work out in my personal life.  It makes this amazing, merciful God realer to me, and strengthens my faith that he's designed my circumstances to 'do me good in the end' too.