Finding Desert Streams

As a Star Wars fan, the quintessential representation of a desert has to be the desert planet Tatooine. I’ve already lost all the non-fans…sorry! If you’re not familiar, this barren, sandy home of the great Luke Skywalker is the least likely place to find a hero, and the last place anyone would want to live. It’s so dry that water needs to be farmed from the air…yikes! As bleak (and nerdy) as this picture is, I think it is a fantastic analogy for to the life of a Christian without the nourishing waters of the Word of God. As a blog that hopes to foster theological discussion and unity, a foundation in God’s Word is an essential first step in the conversation. Diving deep into the Word provides personal nourishment that many in the world and church alike are missing out on. A broad knowledge of Scripture will also aid in having the kinds of dialogue that I believe will promote church unity through understanding. Without this knowledge, we will lack a foundation and shared understanding, and our conversations will falter before they begin.

Streams of Water

For the Christian immersed in it, the Word is like a stream in a desert. The book of Psalms opens with the beautiful imagery of a tree sustained by the nourishment of one such desert stream:

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 its season, 

and its leaf does not wither. 

In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

I think the implication here is a desert stream that remains flowing and life-giving when all other sources of life have gone. A look at a satellite photo of the Nile might give you a good idea of what this is like. While all other trees may wither from lack of water, the tree grounded in the Word, God’s commands, precepts and wisdom, is a tree that flourishes while others waste away. The result? The tree bears fruit and it remains perpetually vital. The image of fruit is well worn in the biblical world, and simply means a person’s life produces results that align with the ideals taught in God’s Word. This is the same idea behind the fruit of the Spirt in Galatians 5:22-23. The benefits of time spent meditating on God’s Word bring life to the soul. Unfortunately, even though the Word provides essential nourishment for a life of faith, Bible reading, engagement, and literacy have all plummeted in recent years. Fewer people are reading the Bible, and even fewer know what it says and teaches for their life, including over half the church! You can Find these and more statistics in the American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2023. Many only consume Scripture in small doses and short sound bites, never reading and studying the Word on their own! If this is the way people are engaging with the Word, no wonder we are seeing an increasingly divided church that fails to understand the truth.

Bible Moisture Farms

Remember the desert world of Tatooine with so little water it had to be farmed from the air? I feel like this is a fitting analogy for the engagement of the Scriptures in our churches. Dedicated Bible reading and study aren’t the norm. What is the norm is people gleaning small bits of Bible here and there, just enough to get by, while leaving its sustaining riches untouched. This is like living in a desert without water and scraping what little liquid you can out of thin air to merely survive. While this might get people by in the short term, it is a far cry from the flourishing tree that Psalm 1 envisions. Shallow roots produce unstable believers, liable to be led astray by the clever ways of the world and enthralled with any new idea that comes their way. When Jesus declared in His high priestly prayer that “[God’s] Word is truth” (John 17:17), He revealed its necessity in forming the foundation of the Christian life. Believers are people of truth on a journey to find the truth, and the Word of God lights that path. Sporadic, minimal doses from a Sunday message, podcast, or verse-of-the-day won’t fully illuminate the eternal truths contained in the pages of Scripture.

““The sum of Your Word is truth...”

— Psalm 119:160

Starting the Discussion

In a previous article, I mentioned the benefits of categorizing doctrines based on importance so we can decide what beliefs are worth agreeing-to-disagree over to find common ground and which are immovable truths that we must defend. There is a step prior to coming to such conclusions, however, and that is knowing what the Bible says about a given doctrine. Before we can even get to the point of interpreting the Scripture and doing theology, we need to be literate in the Scriptures themselves. The lack of engagement with the Word has left many unable to participate in the conversation about theology, leaving it to the pastors, ministers, and scholars to figure things out and tell them what to believe rather than guide them into an understanding of the Word for themselves. As a teacher of Scripture myself, I am committed to never using an approach to Scripture that leaves people only knowing what I believe about a topic without giving them the foundational understanding to search for truth themselves. But this responsibility doesn’t rest solely on the teacher any more than the responsibility for constructing a house rests on the tool manufacturer who made the carpenter’s hammer or the architect who gave him the plans. Christians need to consume the Word of God like their lives depend on it, not relying on others to be their only source of truth while taking responsibility for what they believe and the consequences those beliefs have for their lives. Only then will believers be able to join one another in edifying discussion, based in understanding, to foster unity with one another.

Hope for the Church

While Scripture reading has been on a steady decline, there have been recent signs this trend might be reversing. I can only pray this is the case! The Word of God is the lifeblood of the church, and reading and studying is is essential if we want to see her deep divisions healed and misunderstandings among brothers corrected at the level of truth rather than rhetoric. As universal as the issue of biblical illiteracy is, the solution will need to come from many small changes adding up to huge results. Is it cliché to tell you that the solution starts with you? Not if it’s true! If you are one of those who aren’t planted by the life-giving stream of God’s Word, it’s time to get into its pages and find the sustaining truth that I’ve been talking about. I would suggest using an accessible resource like the Bible Project to help get you get started. Are you already a lover of the Word? Spread the Word about the need for the Word! Let others see the transformation, wisdom, and perspective that a deep knowledge of Scripture brings to your life, being open about where your character has been formed. We have no need to struggle in the desert when we have the blessing of life-giving water in God’s Word. Is there hope for the church to embrace the Word again? Yes! And there’s no better time then now. Get reading!