Thirty-second Mountain Peak

"And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters jail not." Isaiah 58:11

THIS IS A very precious promise of our loving and living God. Though we fail and make many mistakes, when welook into His face activities. He helps and guides us. We think we are clever enough to make our own plans, but however perfect these may be, they will fail one day. Parents have made wrong plans for their children's future education because they thought they knew better than God's word. We ignore the Word of God and make our own plans for our children as if that were best for them. It is the same with unhappy marriages. The fault often lies with the parents. I am talking about believing parents who use the Word of God, but do not honour it. They consult uncles, aunts, friends and strangers rather than the word of God They are governed by worldly qualifications. They do not seek God's face nor hear His voice nor seek to find God's plan, with the result that their children are unhappy, but cannot undo what has been done. It is an oft-repeated story. When we seek to do things on our own we fail, but here is God's promise: "And the Lord shall guide you continually" Isa. 58:11. He undertakes to guide us at every step, and even in the smallest thing. Before you go shopping, ask Him and He will direct you. Say in faith: "Lord. I have no time to go shopping, and shop keepers are very dishonest. Save me, Lord, from being deceived by them and take me to the right shop and enable me to buy the best quality". Then wait patiently and do not go till you have real peace. The Lord will save you from many losses, even in small things. If you do not want to be guided by Him. He will not force you. Only if we ask Him to guide, will He do so, and sometimes we are too proud to ask, so we miss the way. I remember before my conversion, when I was in a big city in England where I was having training in a workshop, I used to come home for lunch. One day I somehow missed the road. I walked two miles away from ,my place and I knew I had missed the way because the things around were so different to what I was accustomed. yet I was so proud that I would not ask. In fact I was afraid that others would lake me for a fool. When [ had gone loo far I asked a policeman to show me the way, and he said: "You have gone two miles out of your way". I had to break my pride to ask him; I was a fool indeed. When somebody calls us a fool we are angry, but it is by mistakes that we learn. We need God's mighty hand to lead us. and we should be willing to be led by Him at every step, and in every matter, even though it may be a small thing like salt in the food, "Lord, tell me how much salt to use" we can pray. Younger sisters are. often too proud to take the advice of older sisters and thus there will be too much salt in The food and the food is spoiled. When we consult somebody we can avoid mistakes. God's promise is to guide us continually, and to satisfy our soul in drought. Even though there may be lack of food due to famine. God's people have no need to starve. He will bless every kind of food He gives you. There was a famine in south India some lime ago. The people could no( get rice but wheat and they disliked the very sight of wheat. As, believers however, some of them began to pray: "O Lord will you give me a taste for wheat? and, after few days, the wheat became tasty! When I came to South India I could not eat rice. It used to give me stomach pain, so I started praying: "Lord, give me a taste for rice". The Lord is saying here in Isa. 58: 11. that even though there may be physical or spiritual drought the Lord will not make us starve. Any kind of food can be enjoyed. I once visited twenty countries and I had to eat different kinds of food, but I enjoyed my food very much, and had a good appetite. You can enjoy any kind of food by prayer. Even crumbs can become tasty if you pray and say: "Lord, bless my food and multiply it". He will keep His promise. There was a wealthy man in Bombay, who went to a missionary many years ago and said to him: "If I see one good Christian, 1 will become a Christian. He took him to a poor locality in Bombay about the middle of the day. where a Christian sweeper was having his food and that which he ate was nothing but a few crumbs given by somebody. There was no mutton, no curry or anything good. Before taking his food the man closed his eyes and began to pray. He thanked God for the food He had provided, and both could see from his shining face that he was thanking God for His care for him and the provision He had made. The wealthy man became a Christian, when he began to see what the love of the Lord Jesus could do. Other people, no mailer what you give give them, are not satisfied and mostly those who do not do hard work, are the ones that grumble and murmur most. Learn to be thankful for whatever is given to you. Similarly, though you may have to live in lonely places because of business, or for some other reason you may have to go to for away places where there is nobody to talk to you. be thankful to the Lord.

In my early days, I had nobody to talk to or pray with for many weeks and even though the Lord made some provision to satisfy me, yet I would go to some quiet place and stay in the Lord's presence and say: "Now Lord, you speak to me and help me to enjoy your presence" and He did. In this way He satisfies the soul in drought and makes the bones fat. Bones are part of the body which become weak in old age. They become so weak that you cannot walk much, but here God's promise is that He will make fat your bones. He will give you extra strength in old age, spiritually, by reading God's word and by waiting upon the Lord.

"Thou shalt be like a watered garden". A garden has to be watered every day the whole year round, if it is to be always beautiful. The garden needs attention. It is not like a field which requires watering only in season. A garden has to be watered once or twice a day, every day in order that it may bear fruit or vegetables or flowers. If there is no rain the gardener brings water from far-off places. If there is no well he may have to go to far-off wells to draw water. In the middle East like Bahrain which was once a very barren place where nothing grew, good soil was brought many many miles, sometimes from as far as one thousand miles,. Many people were employed to water the place, and they had to draw water for the garden from far-off places to keep the grass green the whole year round. Now it is a very blessed sight to see such a garden in the desert. In Dohar Qatar my friend has such a garden, and it is a wonderful sight, because that place was formerly full of sand for miles and miles around. With much labour They brought soil from different places and planted beautiful flower seeds, and now the whole year round here is a beautiful garden where many people go for walks

The whole world is compared to a desert (Deut. 32:10) a waste, howling desert. Because people around us are living a life of defeat, sin and darkness, and idol worship it is very very barren. There is nothing but sin; no peace, no joy; yet God is keeping a few believers here and there, and they are like a watered garden. Just as people come from far-off places to refresh themselves in (he desert gardens, so believers can be gardens in the barren desert. God can keep you as a witness in a city. and people Will come from far-off places saying: "Brother, please pray for me. I am in trouble, distress and in great need," and you can thus be able to give the word to those who come to you and yourself remain fresh and healthy spiritually. God Himself waters us by His living Word, and through prayer and meditation thereon we learn how to comfort those around us.

The same verse mentions "Springs of water whose water fail not." These springs are flowing the whole year round, and never dry up. There are some springs that dry up at summer time. In Khedgaon they have eight or ten wells, but only one or two wells have full water the whole year around, and many people go to those wells to get water. That is how our spiritual life can become; like a spring whose water never dries up. Under all conditions, whether with friends or with enemies, or in lonely places, whether in time of war or earthquake or other trial we can have the living water of the Holy Spirit to keep us fresh. But the secret is that we have to delight ourselves in the Lord. Only then shall we find springs coming out of us constantly for ourselves, our neighbours, enemies or strangers.

Now there are hot and cold springs. In cold weather you can get hot water, and in the hot weather cold water according to your need. That is how believers can be to others.

In the next verse we have an answer to (he many homes that are ruined because of sin, and brothers, husbands and wives who are not living together and fail in their business. Here is a promise: "And thou shall be called: the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in". Those whose names are ruined by family quarrels or bad habits, can be restored by prayer and fellowship and will be built-up in the Lord, like Onesimus who came to Paul and was transformed to be a teacher of the Word. That is how many broken families can be built-up. It must be our burden to pray for them. Many come to me every day asking for prayer for family, neighbours and children. Then they come after some time and say: "The Lord heard that prayer and we live in peace", I knew a couple who was not at peace with each other for ten years. We prayed and prayed, and when we met them again they said that Lord had mercy and had reconciled them. At first they had been so hard-hearted, that there was no effect. But this time when we visited them the wife came to me and said. "Thank God we are reconciled after ten years of quarreling. Please come home for thanksgiving and food". They were happy. They had been married ten years and had no children, but now they are getting a child. Thus we can build waste places.

Many have lost their way for many centuries. Many Christians have heard the Gospel, but they do not know what (he Church is. because their eyes are upon buildings, ritual, and ceremony and they have no idea of salvation and what forms the foundation of the Church. But when we come on a strong foundation, we can say in a simple and a living way, that this is God's order, Thus the waste place can be built up and we can show to other people what the living Church is.