Don’t Settle for Less in Life Than What God Has to Offer

Sometimes we settle for far less in life than what God has to offer. We experience God as removed and distant, not dwelling within us. Maybe we've accepted the idea that believers - on this side of heaven - are just going to lack the presence of God.

Our inner lives feel dry and barren, and we have a nagging sense there must be something missing.

This is how David Bamberger felt about the land he purchased in Texas over 50 years ago. It was a wasteland of dust and pebbles that nobody wanted. Besides a few scrubby cypress trees, there was no life there at all - no grass, plants, or wildlife. There was a good reason for this.

Life was not possible because there was no water present. Even after digging for wells hundreds of feet deep into the ground on several places on the property, the land came up dry. But he found something interesting from drilling into the ground.

He found an underground cavern made of limestone, completely empty. It was a giant, vacant “room” that at one time had been full of water. This land, he saw, had been originally created with a space to hold water.

Bamberger could have looked at his land and thought it would be impossible to cultivate since it was so dry and lifeless and without water. He could have focused so much on what was lacking that he was unable to imagine anything else. But instead, he decided to invite what was missing - water - to refill that space underground.

First, he had to remove the overgrown cypress trees. In their place, he planted grass seeds. The grass, over time, sent deep roots into that dry ground, tilling it as it went. The grasses’ roots created pathways for rainwater to seep deep into the ground, one drop at a time, over a very slow process.

For a long, long time, things were only happening underground, invisible at the surface. The land looked the same - dry and dusty and dull. But things were happening deep inside with the water in an unseen place.

Fifty years later, Bamberger saw a tiny spring of water coming up from the ground. Gradually, more springs began to appear. The springs became creeks. A pond formed. That underground, once-empty cavern had been re-filled with rainwater from years of in-take. It was finally full, the way it was originally designed to be.

And from all that hidden, underground fullness, new life began on the land. Trees, plants, and wildflowers began to grow because they had a life source. Birds and other animals created homes. An entire ecosystem began to thrive, all because of the presence of underground water. Today the place is called Selah, which is a word from the Psalms meaning place of beauty.

We too have an inner space created to hold God’s presence in our souls that may feel a little empty. And we too have overgrowth that needs to be removed from the ground. We too have tiny grass seeds of faith to plant that will create pathways for God’s presence to seep in. It takes a lot of time. And sometimes it may appear that not much is happening.

But gradually - over time - as we are being filled with the indwelling presence of God, our lives begin to change. We become aware of real-life, everyday fullness of Jesus’ companionship. We start to see people and circumstances through his eyes. We begin to experience deeper love. We find we are hidden with Christ in God, identified with him and by him. His presence fills us to the point of overflow.

When this happens, the work in the deep places of our lives brings beauty and life to the surface.

It’s like the springs that appeared on dry ground after years of rainfall on the land.

Here’s why this matters to us: the presence of God is not an abstract theological doctrine, but a reality. He is available to us when we are open to receive him. His indwelling presence is life giving, life-sustaining, and life changing.

Sometimes we think we have to wait for heaven to know the goodness of the presence of God. We think we have to stay like that dry, barren, lifeless land, always lacking.

But Jesus said he came to offer his fullness of life, now. Not a perfect or easy life, but one that can be filled with the living water of his presence, to the point of overflow.

Jesus says, “The water I give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

We don’t have to wait to be filled with his presence.

We don’t have to live a life of lack.

He is offering his presence now.

All we do is make room to receive it.