Mighty rivers flowing

    High in the Alps- The Waimakariri River.

Two mighty rivers rise in the mountains that are the “backbone” of New Zealand’s South Island. They disgorge from their alpine birthplace and then rush headlong across the flat Canterbury Planes that make up most of the province where we live. The rivers finally achieve their destiny in the welcoming embrace of the cold South Pacific Ocean. Both of these rivers are more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide in places, and when they are in flood they are indeed a spectacle! Both rivers are known as braided or alluvial rivers, which flow across a broad floodplain, covering it with multiple channels of shallow water which carry massive amounts of fairly coarse-grained sediment down to the ocean.

 

 

Chinook salmon, native to North America, released in these waters early in the 20th century, annually  swim to their spawning ground deep within the mountains, providing much sport to keen anglers along the way, and plentiful food to seagulls, native falcon and hawks as the spent fish lie dying after giving life to the next generation competing in the endless dance of reproduction.   

 

I have been to the headwaters of both rivers; they are nothing more than puny streams, little more than a dribble. You can cross the rivulets without getting your feet wet! But follow them down their watercourse, and they soon become raging torrents, especially when the hot nor-wester winds blow and the winter snows melt.

These mighty rivers are vibrant examples of how God loves to work in our lives. If we allow Him, He can make something very sizable from the raw material we offer Him; our God just loves to make something very impressive from something insignificant.

Paul wrote about God’s often enigmatic ways in his letter to the church at Corinth… “For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-28

Solomon expressed a similar thought in Ecclesiastes, chapter 9:11 “I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.”

The Message version of the Bible renders that thought thus… “I took another walk around the neighborhood and realized that on this earth as it is-- The race is not always to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor satisfaction to the wise, Nor riches to the smart, Nor grace to the learned. Sooner or later bad luck hits us all.”

The race is NOT to the swift, or as a friend of mine says… “The sharpest knife in the draw” There have been times when I have felt woefully inadequate… I was generally the last to be chosen for any sports team at school, and I was terminally “un-cool” at high school, and certainly the least likely for God to use much, let alone mightily… For several years I  wrote and voiced a "prophetic" comment radio program twice a week on the Christian radio station here in New Zealand, and all of the posted Bible Studies (about 70) on my previous website were used by at least one military chaplain to minister to sailors and other personnel involved in the military situation in Iraq several years ago.

From our computer in Christchurch, New Zealand, my wife and I are ministering to people all over the world, a thought that fills us with wonder and awe. Over the years I have had the honor of starting many a couple on their journey through this life together when I have taken their wedding service, and I have also had the remarkable privilege helping many a grieving family say goodbye to a loved one when I have taken their funeral.   

God loves to take a small seed and grow something big from it, and maybe you, like me have been growing in spiritual power and strength for years, without even realizing it! If you have ever prayed like Jabez, for God to enlarge your territory, then get ready… for He will do it.

Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: "Bless me, O bless me! Give me land, large tracts of land. And provide your personal protection--don't let evil hurt me." 1 Chronicles 4:10 

God gave him what he asked.

The verse before this prayer is very telling. Jabez was so named because his mother bore him in great pain!

Jabez was a better man than his brothers, a man of honor. His mother had named him Jabez (Oh, the pain!), saying, "A painful birth! I bore him in great pain!"

1 Chronicles 4:9

Talk about something mighty growing from a difficult beginning…imagine going through life saddled with a name that reminded you and everyone who heard that name that you are called “a great pain”! Jabez’s story is just another example of God doing what He loves to do…. Taking the foolish things of this world, and confounding the wise.