For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. – Isaiah 44:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 16, 2013): Isaiah 44

Lucy Jane Rider Meyer had plans to work as a medical missionary in some foreign country. The man that she was planning to marry was also in preparation to become a doctor bound to work alongside of his bride in some foreign country in need of their specialized talents. But in 1875, life dealt a blow to the young couple. Lucy was 26 when her husband to be passed away, and with him all of the dreams that Lucy had held for the future. But unforeseen circumstances could not tear Lucy away from her purpose. She had a heart for the poor and oppressed. But instead of finding fulfillment of that purpose in a foreign land, she found a way of fulfilling her dream at home. Her heart’s desire carried her into a life dedicated to social work and serving the urban poor – the ones that most of us have become used to simply not seeing.

But Lucy saw them, and sight of them drove her to find a solution. But ultimately, she also understood that the only real solution would have to come from God. One day, in 1884, she was reading these words in Isaiah 44. God’s promise was that he would come to the ones that needed him, and the people that she worked with desperately needed him. They were a dry ground desperately in need of a flood.

And so Lucy Meyer, a social worker in Chicago working with the poor penned these words:

“I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
I will pour floods upon the dry ground;
Open your hearts for the gifts I am bringing;
While ye are seeking Me, I will be found.”

The words of Isaiah, Meyer claimed for the people that she worked with. But originally the words had been intended for another group of people that were being oppressed against their will. Israel thought at one point that they knew God, but that was before the exile – before the temple had been torn off of its foundation. Now they were seeking him – hoping almost against hope that they would one day be able to find the God of their youth and the One worshipped by their ancestors.

God had responded then that he would be found by all who were willing to seek him. On that day, his Spirit would be poured out on the ones most in need. Those who were thirsty would drink, and the desert would receive so much water that it would overflow. The captives would be released. Meyer recognized that the original promise for Israel was now a promise toward anyone who would recognize that they needed God – even the unseen ones that she had captured her heart.

Maybe one of the side effects of our over confident civilization is that we have become the ones with no need for God. We think we are self-sufficient and totally capable of handling life all by ourselves. And all that really means is that we are the ones who God will not pour himself over – because we believe that we have no need of him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 45