Living Streams of Water

Living Streams of Water

-Lester Parkinson

Scripture Setting: " I want to see a mighty flood of Justice, an endless river of righteous living." Amos 5:24

As a child I loved and enjoyed being close to (and even dipping) into lakes, creeks, canals, ponds and even rivers. It has always been a great stress reliever of mine. As an adult, living in the contrasting climates of Florida and Michigan I found it quite easy to relive my childhood desire of being close to their waterways and the Everglades.

 In the Great Lakes state of Michigan, the source of quite a few rivers is melted snow, hence the waters there are swift, clear, cold, and very refreshing. One spring day, I bravely sampled rowing and even swam  in one of those semi-frigid but quite invigorating waters.
On the way home from a church retreat [in Florida] we stopped for a dip in a pond nestled on a large acreage of land owned by a friend. The water there was contrastingly different than that of the Mid-Western State of Michigan. The pond water was warm and stagnant. It differed greatly with the swiftly flowing invigorating Michigan riverain stream.
The Prophet Amos used the metaphor of a stream to illustrate the transforming power of righteousness. Appalled at Israel's dead religious ritual and their oppressive exploitation of the poor, (Amos 2:6-8, 5:21-27), this fruit gatherer turned prophet called for justice and righteousness to prevail. He saw that God's people were stuck in the stagnant pond of injustice towards others when what they sorely needed was a life marked by a mighty flood of justice, an endless flowing river of righteous living. (5:24).
Likewise, God desires for us to allow justice to be like a "mighty flood" and a "surging river" of loving care that is flowing to those who are dispossessed of this world's goods around the world. One way that can happen is to strive for just laws and to champion loving care for the poor. An acid test of our stewardship will be the Christian's reaction and response towards the storm-tossed victims in the Caribbean country of Dominica and the Syrian war-torn refugees both seeking refuge from their unfortunate situational plights.
May we [today] determinedly seek to be a part of God's mighty streams of His righteousness until Christ returns to take us home. Righteousness therefore follows when truth springs into action.