Where the River Flows

Last year, my area of the country experienced a dry spell. We had very little rain for months. Gardens were struggling. The grass turned a brown shade and barely grew, even in mid-summer. We were experiencing a drought—a lack of physical water. 

The Bible often uses the imagery of water to depict spiritual vibrancy contrasted with a lack of water to convey spiritual dryness or emptiness. The book of Psalms opens with one of these images. The person who delights in God’s Word is like a tree planted by the riverbank—in every season, they flourish because they are always connected to the life-giving, fresh water. In comparison, those who turn from God are like the chaff from wheat – dry and easily blown away by the wind. 

We see a similar image in Ezekiel 47 when Ezekiel recounts a vision where he sees a house with water flowing underneath. When followed, the water leads to a river that cannot be crossed. All along the river, the water is full of fish and sea creatures. The river is a picture of abundance and thriving.  Listen to this description from Ezekiel 47:12 NLT, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

Ezekiel’s vision teaches us an important spiritual lesson. Everything lives where the river flows, and the source of this flourishing river is the Temple of God—abundance, life, and fruitfulness flow from His presence. Similar to Jesus’s analogy of the vine and the branches, Ezekiel’s prophecy helps us to see that God is the source of all fruitfulness in His children. Apart from Him, we cannot produce good things, and we cannot thrive. 

I don’t know about you, but this lesson is one I need to keep learning again and again. I easily fall into the trap of thinking that I need to figure things out, work hard, and make things happen, and I forget to consult God and much less depend on Him. But self-sufficiency does not yield the fruitful, thriving spiritual life I desire. Instead, it brings exhaustion, burnout, a lack of patience, and frustration. 

God is inviting you and me into what I have heard some describe as the divine flow. Like a tree planted on the banks of a river depends on the river for life; we need to rely on God for everything. Yet, at the same time, we are participating. We are active yet dependent. Galatians 5:25 invites us, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

This type of life is hard to define. How do we know when we are depending on God and submitting to His Spirit? Or how do we know when we are cut off from His source, looking to our own power and ability to live the Christian life? There is one simple answer: we look at the fruit. 

If you want to know if you are connected to the divine source, you look at what your life is producing. Galatians 5 explains the difference between the fruit of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. We need to ask ourselves honestly: when I look at my life, do I see impurity, disputes, jealousy, and anger, or do I see love, joy, peace, and patience? Are my actions building up my pride, or are they building up God’s Kingdom? Am I looking out for my own interest, or do I love others well?

The river in Ezekiel’s vision is a picture of the supernatural. Not only are the trees along its bank flourishing and bearing fruit in season, but they also yield a new crop every month. Think about that for a minute. That’s like an apple tree that produces good apples in March or June and not just in the fall. Or like a strawberry field that is ready for picking in the winter. Wouldn’t that be great – fresh fruit at the local produce stand all year round?

You and I have an invitation. We can bear good fruit all year long—in season and out of season, on our best days and on our worst days, in the winter season and in the spring season. How? Through the power of God. This type of fruitfulness is impossible from our own strength and ability,  but we have access to a source that never runs out. 

Listen to Jesus’s invitation: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

We can live our lives where the river flows. When we are dry and empty, God is full and overflowing. When we run out of energy, God never grows weary or tired. When we don’t know what to do, God is wise and knows all things. When we lack love, God is love. Where we see no way, God can make a way.