Ezekiel 47:6-9 He said, "Son of man, have you had a good look?" Then he took me to the riverbank. While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river. He told me, "This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then in the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh. Wherever the river flows, life will flourish--great schools of fish--because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water. Where the river flows, life abounds. (The Message)
Ezekiel is talking about the catastrophe of the invasion of Israel by Babylon. The people there were unwilling to see anything other than what was right before their eyes, but Ezekiel saw what they couldn't see. He showed them that God was at work in their wreckage and was using the disaster to create a new people of God. (The Message). He used the river to illustrate healing water to the people and the land.
In the newspaper this morning, there was an article and picture of a bald eagle spotted at the Hannah Dustin park & ride in Penacook, NH. A full adult male-the white head and white tail. Right now, eagles are spending their time near open water, places like major rivers, NH's largest lakes and tidal areas on the coast. They do that because they like to eat sea gulls and fish and where this eagle was seen, the Merrimack and the Contoocook rivers come together and there is a small dam which creates open turbulent water. Nourishing food for everyone.
Maybe the rivers that have changed course over the last few years during spring flooding is a good thing. The officials can't figure out why, but maybe like the people in Ezekiel's time, there is something they can't see. Maybe we just need to accept it and wait to see what God's plan is.
Nancy
