Pour it out! Pour it on!

“Eww! What’s with the sour milk? It’s not even the due date yet! Pour it down the drain and then run some water for awhile so the smell gets washed away.”

I poured as fast as I could to eliminate the offensive odor. Not just a splash but an overflowing stream of spoiled milk pulsed from the container into the sink.

In most other situations, pouring brings to mind a picture of abundance. There’s more than enough. Don’t hold back. Take all you want. Pour it on! Personally, I like to pour syrup over pancakes and French toast. Never seems to be enough for my taste!

God is generous with His pouring. He reminds us how He makes clouds pour down their moisture. He makes abundant showers fall on mankind (Job 36:28). When Moses spoke to the rock in the wilderness, it poured out water, enough for everyone (well over a million people) plus their animals (Numbers 20:8).

There are other things that pour out. Sorrows, groans, tears, hateful words. Sometimes we even ask God why He doesn’t do more pouring out of His anger and wrath… on other people of course!

As a mother, I’ve experienced plenty of pouring from my children. Through their tears they poured out questions of injustice, betrayal, disappointment. “Why?” they asked. And I couldn’t always give them a good answer.

I can do a pretty good job of pouring out complaints to my Heavenly Father. I have good company in the Scriptures… Job, Isaiah, David. My soul empties out on a pretty regular basis as I pour out my heart to Him. Sometimes it’s on behalf of others. Often it’s for me.

It’s okay. He’s used to hearing my cries and those of His people. We tell Him we don’t understand. We think we have a better picture than He does. He listens… and then He answers.

And then I listen… or I should. Because as my eyes pour out tears to Him, He is my intercessor, my friend (Job 16:20). As my heart pours out to Him, He is my refuge (Psalm 62:8).

And when the exhaustion sets in, when there seems to be no more to pour out, I remember He is the one who not only is there watching over me. He’s ready to do some pouring of His own.

He pours out His Spirit and His blessings.  He gives me a spirit that connects with His grace and a spirit that learns to ask for Him in whatever I need (Zechariah 12:10). He blesses me so abundantly that He “throws open the floodgates of heaven and pours out so much blessing that there is not room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10). And He also says, “Take all you need… all you want.”

I’m thinking now of my Savior pouring out His life, His very lifeblood, for me. He didn’t hold back. Not one drop.

And now His Living Water, His River of Life, pours over me, through me… each and every day… washing away all that sours my life... washing me clean and fresh once more.

Leaving my guilt at the cross,

Christine