A River Runs Through Us

 There’s a river running under your feet—
 Under this house,
 Under this street;
 Straight from the heart,
 Ancient and sweet,
 On its way back home.

~James Taylor

Scripture: Ezekiel 47:1–12

I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. [The angel] said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” ~Ezekiel 47:7–12

I love to stroll alongside Idaho’s brooks and streams that run like veins of silver through this beautiful land. But in all my days I’ve never seen a river like the one Ezekiel saw.

The prophet, in a vision, was touring the temple in Jerusalem, accompanied by an angelic companion, when he came upon a rivulet flowing from under the threshold of the temple—just a trickle.

Ezekiel traced the tiny stream to its source and discovered a spring bubbling up from the ground from under the brazen altar, the place of sacrifice.

Ezekiel’s companion then brought him outside the walls of the city and led him downstream to the place where the river flowed off the banks of Mount Zion toward the east. The angel had a measuring stick in his hand, and as he walked, he measured off the distance.

Ezekiel and his friend walked a little less than a quarter of a mile and the angel led Ezekiel into the water. It was ankle-deep.

The angel then paced off the same distance and led Ezekiel into the water. It was knee-deep.

He measured off the distance again and led him into the river. The water was up to his waist (almost over his waders).

The angel measured off the distance and led Ezekiel into the river again. The water was over his head, a river “deep enough to swim in, a river that no one could cross.”

Then Ezekiel saw the region to which the river flowed: a dead sea that was made alive! Great schools of fish were swimming in its waters; fishermen were crowding its banks; trees were growing in profusion along its shores—“because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.”

First a sanctuary, then an altar, and then a stream trickling out from under the altar that gets wider and deeper as it flows, an inexhaustible, copious supply that takes away bitterness and makes the land sweet and fruitful—all because a river flows through it.

There are no rivers on earth like Ezekiel’s stream, no streams that begin as a trickle and get wider and deeper without tributaries or underground springs. We ask ourselves as Ezekiel’s companion asked, “Do you ‘see’ this?”

First—a small stream trickling from under the wall. If we take the trouble to trace the little stream to its source we find an altar, a place of sacrifice on which the Lamb of God was slain. Underneath the altar there is a spring that bubbles up from the ground, a hidden source, a fountain that flows from deep mystery [1].

Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”[2] He alone is the living water for which we thirst, a fountain in the heart that becomes a river that flows deep and wide, a river that rises and floods, that empties into our Dead Sea, that dispels our dearth, filling our days with dancing, singing and laughter. Where the river flows there is life!

John Bunyon’s Christian and his companion discovered that stream, “a pleasant river . . . the river of God. They drank of the water of the river, which was pleasant and enlivening to their weary spirits . . .” (The Pilgrim’s Progress).

This is our portion: a river that rises from hidden springs and flows at our feet. It flows naturally, perennially, plentifully. Its source is in God’s love and its destination is the wildernesses and waste places of our lives. It is a pleasant river that enlivens our weary spirits.

Are you weary in your love? Do you need new tenderness, compassion, and concern for those around you? Stoop down and drink in God’s love. Deepen your union with Him by prayer and devotion. He will himself be a spring of living water rising up in you to enduring, self-effacing devotion.

Are you weary in your ministry? Are there demands on your time and energy that drain you until you have nothing left to give? Keep opening your heart to God. Pray over His Word and meditate on it day and night. New thoughts will spring up: “fruit for food and leaves for healing.” All your fresh springs are in him. [3]

Are you weary of the struggle in your spiritual life? Do you seek a quiet, more restful progress? This too comes from God, for the life we live is not ours, but His. He is in us, a never-ending source of righteousness, joy, and peace. “Where [God’s] river flows there is life!” There is no other source.

In C. S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair, Jill finds herself lost and very thirsty and looking for a stream. She finds a brook, but she also finds the lion, Aslan, lying beside it. Aslan assures her she may come and drink.

“‘May I—could I—would you mind going away while I [drink]’ said Jill.

“The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

“The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.   

“Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

“‘I daren’t come and drink,’ said Jill.

“‘There is no other stream,’ said the Lion.”

[2] John 7:37, 38

[3] Psalm 87:7