The King's Invitation

God put salt in my oats

kingsinvitation | June 17, 2009 12:14

My dad was never much of a TV-watcher. He’d rather be outside doing something. But on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid, he and I would sit together and watch the Roy Rogers Sunday Matinee. He enjoyed a good western.

So, a few weeks ago, when I happened on an old western movie on the TV, I stopped and watched. It really took me back to those days as a boy, sitting with my dad. It was a good feeling.

In the movie, this marshal and his deputy were about to cross over a desert in pursuit of some "bad hombres", and they had stopped by a "watering hole" to prepare themselves for the journey. As they filled up their canteens with water, the older marshal was telling his young deputy what to expect on this journey across the wilderness. Do you know God can use the simplest things to teach us?

God always knows what’s ahead of us, and sometimes He just wants to give us a little advantage over the trials to come. In 2 Kings 8, God instructed Elisha to tell the Shunammite woman, "Arise and go, you and your household and stay somewhere else, for the Lord has called for a famine in the land for seven years." And she listened, left the country for seven years, and her household was spared. God knows the end from the beginning, and He still speaks to us today, through prayer and through His Word, He still speaks. It’s up to us to listen.

Now, getting back to our cowboys; After they filled their canteens, they lead their horses over to the water, but one of the horses wouldn’t drink. I guess he was satisfied, and didn’t desire any water. Ever heard that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink"? Well this horse wouldn’t drink.

But the horse’s master knew what was ahead, he knew the trials that would come, and he knew the horse needed to drink deeply of the water to prepare for the dry hours ahead. God offers us living water through Jesus Christ, a well which never runs dry. But sometimes, we’re satisfied with the way we are, and just pass the water by without desiring even a taste. Have you ever turned down the water? Have you ever sat on a pew while the Holy Spirit was working in the altar and said to yourself, "its not for me"?

The cowboy had to do something, so he took some oats out of his saddlebag, and pulled some salt out of another pack. He mixed a pile of salt into some oats and gave it to his horse. The horse ate the salted oats, and guess what? The horse became very thirsty and began to desperately drink the water.

Have you ever been desperate for God’s living water? David said in Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God." It’s in that moment of desperation for God that lives are changed forever. Consider the story of the prophet Samuel’s mother, Hannah. She was married to a man named Elkanah. Elkanah also had another wife named Peninnah. Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, but that’s the way it was.

Now Peninnah had given Elkanah several children, but Hannah was barren because, according to 1 Samuel 1:5, "God closed her womb". Why would God do such a thing? Peninnah goaded Hannah constantly, telling her their husband loved her more because she had given him children, and year after year, child after child, it grew worse. Finally, Hannah took her troubles to the altar. The scripture says she told God if He would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord to serve Him always as a Nazirite.

Eli, the old priest, saw her in the altar weeping, and thought she was drunk. Have you ever been so desperate for something it didn’t matter what anybody else thought about you? But Hannah explained to him that she wasn’t drunk, but that she was crying out of the bitterness of her soul. He recognized her seriousness, and asked God to grant her petition. Nine months later she gave birth to Samuel. So why did God close her womb? To put salt in her oats, so that through her desperation, something special would be birthed.

Consider also the story of the prophet Jonah. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah and told him to travel to the city of Ninevah, and preach against the city because of the wickedness there. What did Jonah do? He got up and caught a boat to Tarshish instead. Do you know where Tarshish was? In the total OPPOSITE direction of Ninevah! Have you ever found yourself doing just the opposite of what you knew God wanted you to do? Even the apostle Paul struggled with it. Paul said in Romans 7:15; "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do." There is an ongoing battle inside of us between the flesh and the spirit.

But what happened to Jonah? First, God sent a great wind into the sea, causing the ship Jonah was on to begin to sink. Do you know sometimes storms are sent by God himself? Jonah was eventually thrown overboard, where the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow him. Then according to Jonah 2:2, Jonah said "I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me." He gave God praise and thanksgiving, and promised to carry out what God had instructed. And God told the fish to spit Jonah out onto the dry land. In the end, Ninevah, a city of over 120,000 people, was spared because they were given one last opportunity to turn to God and they took it. Why did God send a storm and a giant fish against Jonah? To put some salt in his oats. Job 5:17 says, "Happy is the man God corrects."

And in our western story, the men and their horses made it across the desert. They survived because of two reasons, first, one knew what was ahead of them, and second, they got their horses to drink plenty of water before they started. And I couldn’t help but think how this is so like us! If we trust God knows what’s best for us, and if we come to God thirsty for Him, He said He would satisfy us.

Sometimes, God gives us a nudge toward the water by putting a little salt in our oats. Maybe its to bring about His own purpose, as in the case of Hannah; maybe its to bring us into obedience, as in the case of Jonah; or maybe He just knows what’s ahead of us, and wants to prepare us for the trials to come.

In any case, the next time troubles come against you, before you murmur, before you look for someone to blame, before you say you don’t understand why God has let his happen to you – run to the fountain. Run in desperation to Christ and His living water, and drink deeply. It may be one of those moments that changes your life forever.

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit!

King’s Invitation Ministries, P.O. Box 501, Foxworth MS 39483

http://kingsinvitation.christianblogsites.com/blog/