Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers,

but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither,

in all that he does, he prospers.

Psalms 1:1-3, ESV

In West Texas, my home, it seems that we are often consumed by the thoughts of rain. It is the largest cattle producing region in the United states, and we rely on the rain to keep the grass growing so that the cattle can keep on eating. In addition to the needed hay and native grass crops, we grow wheat, cotton and even corn. It is a bountiful area with timely moisture, but a hot and dusty land when the rains don't come.

In chapter 11 of Deuteronomy, Moses describes the Promised land into which Israel is about to enter. He points out that it is not like Egypt where they had to rely on irrigation for their crops, but was instead a land that God cared for, and that He personally showered with abundant rains so that the land could produce its rich crops.

I have often wondered what that would be like, since it is so foreign to the conditions of the area that I live in, but I guess I don't mind all of the heat and dryness and wind. As a good friend of mine likes to joke, "It keeps the undesirables from moving here and messing everything up." And when we see how wicked the children of Israel eventually became, we realize that righteous living requires much more than well-watered fields. In fact, it might be the need to be continually praying to God for the rains we need that keep us a little more focused on the source of our blessings in the first place.

I think we all realize that there are very few truly drought resistant regions left in this world, so we will just have to make the best of it in the places that we actually do live. But the wonderful thing about our relationship to God is that we can, in fact, live in a drought resistant spiritual place if we so desire. Isn't that what the Psalmist in the above passage was trying to tell us? We don't have to be "dying of thirst" spiritually because we have the Word of God to satisfy our thirst if we will let it.

We live in a time wherein people actually think that they can change the climate by their behavior. So they put their trust in something they call science, but which has very little relationship to true science, and they start trying all sorts of ridiculous schemes to bring the climate to temperatures more suitable to them. And while part of their efforts are noble (after all, what kind of a psychopath wants to live in a polluted world?) most of their solutions involve enriching the already rich and giving more power to those who already have too much power.

In a like manner (but in a far more consequential and dangerous way), many people have turned their lives over to wicked men. They genuinely believe that they can walk in the way of the wicked  and somehow get relief for their drought stricken souls. And so they seek their counsel for a happy life from evil men and women whose advise will only cause more damage, instead of the thirst quenching help they so desperately need.

So what is the solution? It is given in the passage above! Instead of turning to men for answers to the problems that they themselves have made, we turn to the Word of God. In the Bible we will find all we need to become likes trees planted by streams of water. How can it be so simple? It's because God is the only source of true refreshment for a dry and weary soul. Jesus pointed out that He was the source of living water, and if we would drink from that source we would never thirst again, (John 4:5-13). I believe Him, don't you? I have found that as long as I seek this Living Water that I never thirst, haven't you? In fact, I have found that God and Christ are the only way to drought proof the soul. Have you? 

This is what reading the Word of God will do for us, if we will only do it!