Sunday, June 20, 2010

Cleaning the spring

Water is so vital to life. We all know that. Many of us work in situations where access to clean drinking water is far from ideal. We see the suffering of disease which springs out lack of clean water for drinking, bathing and washing.

Spare a thought for a startling report on the BBC website which reports that 77 million people in Bangladesh are being poisoned with arsenic - from the water that they drink.

image by Kameehan - [IMG]http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad94/kameehan/bhatiary0003.jpg[/IMG]

The study quoted estimates that 1 in 5 deaths were attributable to aresenic poisoning - caused from drinking water which has been pumped up using the simple hand-pumps that we are so familiar with in rural India. The aresenic occurs naturally it seems - but large scale use of hand-pumps has now exposed most of the population to this poisoning.

How ironic that access to water has brought with it a poison. Unseen, undetected it was being drunk along with the water for years before the effects started showing up in the population.

We face similar situations both literally and figuratively in so much of our practice.

Many things seem good - but bring hidden costs. The consumer lifestyle which so many of our aspirational countrymen have embraced - with its luxuries and comforts - has also brought some of the highest rates of heart disease.

We also face hidden poisons in a spiritual sense. How many times do our relationships seem to be flourishing, when all along we are drinking small doses of bitterness and resentment. The little doses add up to major damage.

Likewise, what goes in the mind may be small thoughts - but they allow bitter roots to dig deep into us - and surprise us later with bitter fruit.

When the prophet Elisha had just begun his public ministry, he was faced with a challenge:

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."

"Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' "

And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. (2 Kings 2.19-22 NIV)

Notice the situation and its parallels with so much of what we deal with today. A city which was in a good location. So many of our cities and places of habitation are just that - places which offer many advantages.

But a silent and horrible poison which caused damage to humans and the land. We face so many of these - don't we? Polluting effluents, various levels of chemicals from agriculture and pest-control, the massive byeproducts of vehicles and power plants, human and animal wastes - all in levels far beyond the 'normal'.

As mentioned before, we can also see this at a spiritual level. Broken relationships, greed that runs out of hand, ethical standards that are broken with impunity, pollution of the mind and heart.

So what is to be done?

Elisha speaks the word of the Lord into the situation. He uses a new bowl and salt - presumably obeying what God had told him to do - and cleanses the foul spring.

Is it too much to look forward to the person of Jesus and his command for us to be salt and light in this world? He is after all the one who gives living water!

Could we see humble followers of Christ offering themselves as clean vessels and speaking the Good News into situations that seem hopelessly befouled?

I think we can. And that is at least partly why you and I are alive today.

Let us let our Master use us for His healing work!

1 comment:

  1. Andi your posting is meaningful and timely!

    When we look around us we see a different value system which seems attractive and "glamorous" but the end is heartache and trouble when God's values are compromised. The people of Israel faced the consequences when they decided to have a king like the nations around them and rejected God as King! God warned them in advance but they were not convinced.
    The prophet Jeremiah reminds the people of God.. that “God's plans for them are for good and not for evil…..to give them a future and a hope" (29:11)
    Isaiah echoes a similar promise by saying,
    "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure" (33:6)
    All that we need for our lives and profession is available if we use the right key!
    Compromising on godly principles may bring temporary "benefit" but the long term consequences are disastrous.

    As Christian health care professionals what an opportunity we have to bring comfort and healing to a hurting world! Only Jesus can give hope and meaning to the lives of people who are desperate. .

    I like what Dr Varghese Philip once said "unless Christians be the salt and light, society will disintegrate!"
    May we be His channels of blessing to the many people we meet each day and be the 'salt and light'. May God give us the courage and strength to persevere!

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