Intentional Family - Dig Some Ditches

One of my favorite talks at the Global Leadership Summit came from Steven Furtick, a young pastor in North Carolina. I can honestly say that his talk had me fired up for days and thinking for weeks. I cannot do justice to his simple, brilliant, dynamic talk on 2 Kings 3:9-20, but I’m going to try!
In this passage, 3 kings – the king of Israel, king of Judah and the king of Edom – go to fight against Moab. After 7 days, their army ran out of water for themselves and their animals. The kings were upset about this, wondering why God assembled them to fight against Moab and now set them up to lose. Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord through him?” Elisha came and answered the king’s questions concerning their battle against Moab and their complete lack of water. This is what Elisha said,

“This is what the Lord says: make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also hand Moab over to you.” 2 Kings 3:16-18

Fill this land with ditches. Get out there and dig some ditches because the water is about to come!

Sometimes I feel like parenting is a lot like digging ditches. The dirty, tiring, endless work of digging ditches. We see little to know results and we begin to panic that we’re going to lose the battle! But God says, fill this land with ditches because I’m about to flood your family with blessings. We can try with all of our might to make our families into something of our dreams, but only God can make it rain! Only God can transform, guide, heal, strengthen and nurture a family. It is our job to prepare their hearts, dig the ditches, so that God can fill them with his living water.

Hang in there. This responsibility of parenting is tough and so much of our job is just digging ditches, or preparing them for what God has for them. But as we take our needs and desires for our families to God, he asks us to do our part and then let him do what only he can do. And I love verse 18 that says, “this is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.”! Nothing is difficult for God. The heart of a prodigal child, a strained marriage, scary finances, not matter what our difficulties are, God encourages us to keep at it – love that child unconditionally, respect and support your spouse, live frugally, fill the land with ditches and get ready for the rain!

If you want to see your family filled with the living water of Jesus, dig some ditches!

CHALLENGE: Ask God where you need to be digging some ditches. Pray for strength, endurance and wisdom.

FLASHBACK QUESTION:
How have you reinvented yourself this past week?