PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• There’s something kind of fascinating about a cactus.
I don’t think they are particularly pretty but if there’s one in my presence, I become a curious three-year-old and can’t help but touch it.
My mom had one when I was a little girl and I have had my hand slapped more than once as I played with the spines.
I think it’s a testament to God’s creativity that He would design a plant that actually grows in the desert and thrives under that kind of heat.
I won’t even pretend to understand or explain the particulars of growing cacti…
I have no discernible gardening skills and have managed to kill even the heartiest of plants.
Nonetheless, I think the cactus and its ability to grow despite its conditions is just an amazing example of how God can use us anywhere He plants us.
In Psalm 63:1-4. David wrote, “God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory. My lips will glorify you because your faithful love is better than life. So I will bless you as long as I live; at your name, I will lift up my hands.”
The world we live in could be equated to a desert.
It’s a miserable, harsh world where suffering, hurt, and heartache flourish.
Yet, we can bloom and grow.
Not because of ideal conditions or anything we do, but the answer is in verse two…
“So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.”
We survive the harsh realities of life by looking to the strength and glory of God…
We glorify Him because He is bigger and better than the world.
We praise Him because He alone is worthy of praise.
He is the source of our strength and ability to keep going, no matter what our circumstances.
And it’s not on our strength, but because He is the source of the Living Water that sustains us.
Today, as you pray, thank God for being able to grow us and use us in spite of our circumstances and conditions.
Ask the Holy Spirit to sustain you with the Living Water of Jesus and to help you to keep looking to Him for all you need.
