He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. – Ezekiel 47:8

Today's Scripture Reading (October 17, 2026): Ezekiel 47

A story is told of neighbors who decide to sue their neighbor. The problem is that a creek flowing through the neighbors' property has been dammed up, and the much-needed water is slowed, or at times stopped, by dams on the creek over which the neighbors have no control.

The man argues that he shouldn't be sued because he has not built any dams on his property. In fact, he gains nothing from damming the water. He wants the water to flow through his land. If the water has been stopped, it is not because of him. An examination of the creek as it flows through the property shows that the neighbors are right; the water has been dammed. It also shows the property owner is right: he did nothing to dam the creek. A family of industrious beavers built the dams and decided to make their home by the creek. The landowner, pleading innocence, argues that if someone is to be sued, the appropriate party to be named in the lawsuit is the beavers. A series of beaver dams has stopped the creek.

Life tends to build up on us. The cumulative effect of everything we go through has a very real impact on us. I would love to say we are objective and can respond to life as it comes, but the reality is that life changes us. When life is negative, it leaves us the same way. When the negative builds up, we start making unhealthy decisions. The negative grows, and we begin to die.

For Ezekiel, this principle was illustrated powerfully. The Dead Sea was a place of death. It received all the negativity the Jordan River had to offer and held it. It built up until the water literally died and the sea became a place of death. But Ezekiel had a vision of a river flowing from the temple that brought life, even to water that had died.

It is a powerful image of redemption, grace, and forgiveness. An image of what God wants to do with our lives. It begins with allowing God to move in us to forgive. Then the water flows through us, enabling us to forgive others. If we can do both, be forgiven and forgive, the negativity that has built up in our lives has a chance to be released. As the river flows over us, it brings back the life that had gone missing. It is what God has purposed to do in our lives if we will let him. He desires to bring life to what is dead in us and what has died in our communities.

So maybe it is time to remove the beaver dams from our lives and let the healing river flow.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 48