Psalm 18:15

Water Channels

   Don't you just love it when you finally understand something? Suddenly, the light dawns. You see why it really wasn't good for you to have the thing you prayed for. You figure out that God's timing was best after all. Or, you see the answer was right at your finger tips all along; you just had to quit struggling long enough to touch it. 

   I believe those special "Aw, HA!" moments keep me going more than any other spiritual experience. Of course, it isn't long before another mystery looms before me, but I find hope by remembering that if one mystery has become clear, maybe a second can eventually be solved, too.

   David had a few moments like that and he wrote about one in Psalm 18. Not all the Psalms can be traced to a specific incident or even a particular author, but this one can. A note added below the title tells us that David wrote when the Lord at long last delivered him from the hand of Saul and set him up as king-just as He promised.

From age thirteen until he finally took the throne in his early thirties, David's life was dangerous, confusing, and fearful. He describes it as "the pains of death," "floods of ungodliness" that "made me afraid," and suffering so intense it felt like the "sorrows of Sheol (hell)."

   Yet, when the trial was finally over and he had time to reflect, he burst out in song and wrote about the struggle. One of the images he uses to describe what it felt like when the enemies were at last gone is "Then the channels of the waters were seen."

   When water rolls across the land, most of the reasons why it looks a certain way or follows a particular path are hidden from view. It may run faster, slower or create a whirlpool. It may take a sudden turn, become rough or be flat as glass We watch the changes and logic tells us many must be caused by something deep below the surface. The reasons will be apparent only when the water is completely gone. Then we see river turned left at that particular spot because an ancient tree left roots tangled around several rocks. The whirlpool was caused by a cave below the bank where a second tributary joined the flow. Of course! The reasons are so clear when the water is gone.

   David seemed to find great joy in the fact that the channels of the waters (the reasons) were at last clearly seen. I don't blame him! How I long for the time when all the unseen things that now shape my life, all the hidden reasons, the mysteries that now seem so dark are at last exposed to the light. What a wonderful "Aw, HA!" moment that will be!