CAN REEDS THRIVE WITHOUT WATER?
Job 8:11-19
INTRODUCTION
‘A man stopped to chat with a farmer who was erecting a new building. He asked, "What are you putting up?" The farmer replied, "Well, if I can rent it, it’s a rustic cottage. If I can’t, it’s a cow shed."’
That farmer had put some thought into his planing – he had a counter plan should the first plan not come off!
We were looking for somewhere different to buy in Toodyay. We had done the hobby farm thing there and found it to be quite demanding - Especially on top of full time employment, involvement in a brand new church, raising a young family and trying to have time for each other as a couple.
We decided to try and purchase a ‘bush retreat’ type place – where we could enjoy the land, rather than be it’s slave! There were a number of places in Toodyay that would ‘fit this bill’, so to speak.
But when it came to being close to the townsite, they were few and far between! And for various reasons, we needed to be close to town.
After keeping our eye out, and inspecting several places, we began to despair of ever finding the home of our dreams!
Then one day I passed a block of land that was on the market. It was undeveloped and close to the townsite. Decided to run in and have a look. And WOW! – although the block did not look anything extraordinary from the road – it was just magnificent! - Views toward Perth, looking down a huge valley. It had ravines all of its own, complete with a beautiful little dam nestled in amongst some of the most spectacular vegetation anywhere in the locality.
That dam was to become an oasis to us.
One day while walking on a nearby property on which the beginnings of a brook began, I came to the place where this brook wound its way across the firebreak on which I was walking. It was exquisite! - Crystal clear and flanked by little reeds. I looked at the effect the reeds gave to the water and decided to transplant some into our dam.
They survived until we entered a period of drought. The dam dried up and so did the reeds!
I have called this message, ‘Can Reeds Thrive Without Water?’ And those words are taken from a passage in Scripture, which I will now ask Sharayah to read to us. Thanks Sharayah.
JOB 8:11-19 (NIV)
My text this morning is verse 11, ‘Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?’
The answer is obvious. No!, reeds cannot thrive without water. I mean we just heard a story about how they shrivel up and die as soon as the water level drops. The reed by nature lives in water. In fact the author of this passage of Scripture points out that reeds wither more quickly than grass. And here reeds and rushes are used to represent a certain type of person and certain desires and certain goals.
What end awaits the reed? It will wither away and seem as though it never existed! (see verse 19). The reed ends up being destroyed. Could this happen to our plans? Could this in fact happen to us!?
Are you in the habit of making New Years Resolutions? Here’s one I found on the net, ‘With working a stressful, full-time-plus job and planning my wedding in February, I don’t have time to make a resolution. Maybe that should be my resolution … to make time to make a resolution.’
You know, as we move close to the beginning of a new year, let’s study our plans, our goals, our worldview to make sure they are not reeds. Let’s consider our own lives and make sure that we ourselves are not merely reeds!
Do you understand how important this is!? To move into a new year with goals that will amount to nothing, and a life that will amount to nothing, is tragic indeed! It is worse than tragic, for things of eternity are at stake! Let’s aim to be much more than reeds, and let’s make plans and goals that have substance and are worthwhile.
Regarding New Years resolutions, another person wrote, ‘I love making resolutions this time of year. But I call it setting goals. This is the time I RAP: Review, Analyse and Plan. You know, what did I do last year, how do I feel about it, what do I want to do for next year?’
To help us RAP up our year, let’s consider some characteristics of the reed. So that we can compare them with our desires - ‘My desire is this… - is it like a reed?’ So that we can scrutinise our lives - ‘My life is this… - is it like a reed?’
Let’s look at some-
1. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REED
(HOLD UP GREEN REEDS)
What are some characteristics of the reed?
(AWAIT RESPONSES)
Yes, the reed:
· Is without backbone - it is pongy and hollow
· Has no substance or stability
· Is fragile and yet not broken by the storm for it succumbs to every wind
· Gives in easily
· Is dependant upon circumstances - abundance of water makes it flourish, whereas a drought destroys it (HOLD UP DEAD REEDS)
Are we and our plans like reeds?
Do I change my opinion with every influence? Is persecution foreign to me - the storm makes no impact because I continually ‘go with the flow’. Is my life and its outlook dependant on circumstances? Do I only serve God when I am in good company? Or when it is profitable for me? Do I love the Lord only when the ‘going is good’. Am I in it for what I can get?
Do my plans, my resolutions, my desires and perhaps even my whole life reflect the reed?
Look at your plans. Look at your desires. Look at your goals. Look at your resolutions. Look at your life. And compare them with the reed.
What should our lives reflect?
(AWAIT RESPONSES)
They should in fact reflect characteristics that are-
2. OPPOSITE TO THE REED
God’s ways are often opposite to our ways. For example, think of the baby born in a stable who was in fact King of the universe at His birth!
Three to four kilometres east of Bethlehem stood the largest palace fortress in the entire world. It had been built 15 years before Jesus’ birth by king Herod. This huge fortress completely dominated the little village of Bethlehem. We know Herod was an Edomite and the OT Scriptures had prophesied that the Messiah, the God ordained expected deliverer, would rule over the Edomites. So here we have under the shadow of the largest palace fortress in the world, owned by the most powerful descendant of Esau who ever lived, a little baby who is in fact King of kings. Herod never stood a chance against God almighty.
You see Herod was a reed and his plans were reeds. Herod and all that he stood for were wrong as far as God is concerned. Herod and his plans would be destroyed!
We need to walk straight past Herod’s palace fortress and come to King Jesus. You see Herod is still with us – the desires of natural man overshadow and crowd out the baby who was born King!
It’s like the New Years resolution we heard earlier on, ‘With working a stressful, full-time-plus job and planning my wedding in February, I don’t have time to make a resolution. Maybe that should be my resolution … to make time to make a resolution.’ The rush of life prevents us from seeing what is worthwhile. The colours and sounds and delights of the world look as appealing as reeds flanking the sides of a babbling brook. And yet that is exactly what they are – reeds! Change the circumstances and they will wither.
Maybe our resolution as we move into this new year should be to RAP: Review, Analyse and Plan. Review and analyse our lives, our goals, our desires and plan to make them count for God.
CONCLUSION
As we move into this brand new year we need to take a good look at our desires, our plans and our lives. Are they strong and stable? Are they based on things that will last? Are they wholesome and God pleasing?
As we move into this brand new year with all the opportunities it brings – we need as a church to be and aim for things that are as solid as a rock – for they are built on the rock of ages – Jesus Christ!
Lord, let us find life and purpose in You, and not in the water of this world’s favour or gain.
Lord, we don’t want to be like those reeds we heard about earlier on – that died when the water ran out! We don’t want to be dependent on the water of this world. Rather we want the water that You offered to the woman at the well, ‘… "Everyone who drinks this water (that is the water of this world) will be thirsty again, (You said) but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."’ (Jn 4:13-14) NIV.
Lord Jesus if our lives are not reeds, because we know You, and yet our desires and plans are – reveal that to us as we compare them to the reed and help us to set things right.
And Lord if our lives themselves are reeds reveal Yourself to us that we might fall on our face before You. We beg You.
‘Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.’
LET’S PRAY
