In A Dry and Weary Land

In a dry and weary land,
life’s struggles, barely could I withstand;
no sight of water to be found,
there a rock lay on the ground.

I picked it up,
it did not flinch;
and when I tossed it in the air,
it came back down and settled there.

I squeezed it hard,
but it did not change;
how many others had come before me,
and tried its flint-like form to alter or to rearrange?

Not a rock, Lord, do I want.
What could I learn from this?
In a dry and weary land,
I want to feel a mist!

I need water, Lord,
can’t you see?
Why are you denying me
the water that I need?

When Jonah was covered by the castor oil tree,
he felt he needed shade;
but then he got the hot sun,
and he became dismayed.

Could it be You’re saying to me,
don’t let hard times hinder me?
Like the rock,
don’t let others change me
from who You’ve created me to be!

God does not want life circumstances to change us from who He created us to be. He doesn’t want those hard places to change us from the person He knows we can be. The only changes that should take place in us during these times involve spiritual growth, increased fortitude and a deeper intimacy with Him. These are the changes He is looking for. Not change which will reflect fleshly character, but change that will reflect divine character—change that reflects refinement.. . . The words in I Peter, Chapter One, Verses 6 and 7 read, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Though trials are not pleasant at the moment, refined results will bring maturity and lasting change. Those hard places will prove our faith, reshape our character and will bring sweetness out of what was once a bitter and hard experience.

In my poem, I questioned why God would give me a rock in that dry and weary land instead of the water, which symbolizes the release I felt I so desperately needed. . . . That “rock” represents His Son . . . while I was crying out, God knew that I needed His Son more than the immediate release from my circumstances. . . There is so much we can learn from the natural rock that we can also observe in the “Rock” of our salvation. When you observe a natural rock, you see that it contains sterling qualities and so does our Savior. A natural rock is durable, and so is Christ. God not only wanted me to observe the changelessness and the durable characteristics of a natural rock, but to understand that consistency in our own character can only be produced and maintained if we learn from and lean on the “Rock” of our salvation. . . .

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