The phrase Scent of the water ones from Job 14:7-9:
7 “At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
I heard this image shared at the Fellowship of Parish Evangelists conference, and the image stuck with me, this idea that just the tiniest bit, the smallest morsel, can be enough to cause lasting change and transformation.
From a dead tree, yet new life can sprout from the dead place, not from a flood or a puddle, but rather ‘the scent of water’.
As I thought of the idea of the scent of water my mind wandered to the images of living water within the scriptures:
“ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn.4.13&14).
Water a picture of the Holy Spirit, able to satisfy that deepest desire at core of our being, that “deep cries out to deep” call towards God which we all crave and are thirsty for. God putting eternity with the hearts of humanity.
“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (Jn 7.38).
Just a taste of the real thing is what our heart craves.
Maybe this why scripture urges us not to “despise the day of small things”?
God’s mustard seed can flourish from seemingly nothing to becoming a great tree.
As I thought of the power of light and hope, often it is the smallest glimmer that helps spur us on. I was reminded by the faith of the woman with the issue of blood, who knew she could and would be healed by one touch of the hem of Jesus’ garment.
The tiniest touch of Christ can bring more change in a life than a man made flood of good intentions.
A recent poem had the line : “don’t give me the sky when I ask for the light?” (citation need).
Perhaps sometimes in our evangelistic strategies is “less is more”
Jesus left people to work stuff out rather than give people a neatly packaged “just add water” solution to life, the world and the universe.
Perhaps you are only called to be a small link in a chain of events which sees lives turned around, all God might be-calling you to is to be faithful in your small scene and role rather than the whole production.
Perhaps our keenness to drench people in theological flood had more to do with our desire for instant results and wanting to “give God a hand”.
I wonder whether Spirit Led Evangelism is saying what God wants us to say, no more, and no less.
Sometimes it takes a step of faith to trust the journeys of those we love, pray for, and with who we have sowed seeds, or nurtured green shoots, to the God who makes the seeds bud and the crops grown.
scruffyvicar 