Truth #215 - God's flooding refreshes rather than destroys - Ezekiel 43-48

Ezekiel 47:12
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

Truth:   God's flood of waters is life giving.

In Ezekiel 47 the prophet is describing a river that flows from the Temple to the east.   As Ezekiel wades into the river it is ankle deep and then waist deep and then deep enough for swimming and then, too deep for any activity.   Yet, the river is one that provides water, fish and sustenance for those who wish to take the refreshens it offers.   In Psalm 46 we have similar description of God providing, from His presence, the water of refreshens.  The writer there actually makes a comparison between the raging waters of the world that destroy and the refreshing waters that God provides:

Psalms 46:1-5
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.

As I write this blog I am sitting in New Orleans.   Ten years ago from this writing the waters from hurricane Katrina destroyed much of this city.   The first day we arrived in the city the newspapers still had articles about the flooding and the rebuilding.   Rushing waters, uncontrolled and with no purpose, can be destructive.  As the psalmists writes, "its waters roar and foam."   Yet, God's flooding waters are refreshing.  Ezekiel tells us that they provide water and refreshens those that drink from them.   As in Psalm 1, those who have faith in God are satisfied by the waters from God and not destroyed by the rushing waters of destruction.  Note how the man of faith benefits from God's flowing water:

Psalms 1:3
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

Christ, in John 4, tells us that He is the "living" water and that we can drink, through faith, and never thirst again.  That is the picture Ezekiel is telling us about in the above truth.   God's flooding is refreshing not destructive.