September 10

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. — Isa 44:3 BSB

How often does the soul, born and taught by God, feel like “dry ground!” It longs to be fruitful in every good word and work, adorned with every grace of the Spirit within and producing every good and godly fruit outwardly. Let no one think that the child of God is indifferent to bearing fruit, either inwardly or outwardly. There is no holiness, spirituality, or grace that the child of grace doesn’t desire to experience inwardly or produce outwardly.

But the child of God realizes they cannot produce this fruitfulness by their own efforts. It’s as impossible for a barren field to turn itself into a fruitful garden without human care or rain from the heavens, as it is for a soul that recognizes its own barrenness to produce fruits of righteousness by its own strength.

But the Lord knows the desires of the heart, and he hears its inward mourning over its own barrenness. He has given a sweet and gracious promise: “I will pour floods upon the dry ground.” A mere light shower wouldn’t be enough. The dry ground would quickly absorb a few drops of rain. It requires floods, either from the heavens or from the streams of the river that makes glad the city of God, to bring about such a change. These floods represent the promises poured into the soul, the love of God poured into the heart, the manifestations of Christ and his atoning blood, the overwhelming grace that surpasses all sin, and the peace that flows like a river into the heart of the contrite soul.