Since I live in Tennessee, I say, “I’m going down to Florida,” or “I’m going up to Chicago.” We are so used to looking at maps with North America shown at the top and South America at the bottom, that we assume that’s the direction the earth is always stationed. We do have a north and south pole, after all, right? And doesn’t the Mississippi River flow down south? We are even shown pictures of the earth from space that align with our maps, but is that really how it looks out there? Nope! That’s just the angle we are shown so we don’t confused by what we are looking at. But as the astronauts have testified, it all depends where you are in space. It could actually look like the picture above. Of course, people in China like to show the side of the world they are on!
The reality is, we have rivers that flow in a northerly direction, as well. When water comes down Niagara Falls, it flows down into Canada, which is “up north.” The Nile River is not fed by the Mediterranean Sea; it flows north into the Sea. So, when you are going north or south, you are not going up or down; you are actually going over there, just like going east or west.
Gravity alone causes rivers to flow downhill, even when the terrain looks perfectly level, like along the Mississippi River Delta. The Roman aqueduct only needed a .5% decline to keep the water flowing along its 31-mile length. I often wonder how a river continues to flow even after days of no rain. I know it takes a while for the streams and creeks to empty from a mountainous area, but where does the water come from in a flat area, even after a drought?
We have a ditch and a low area in our back yard that is dry until we get a hard rain. It then transforms into a creek and a pond but recedes a couple of days after the rain stops. I have been on my way back there to mow the grass that has finally dried, but before I can start the mower, the water mysteriously returns, without any rain to feed it. How does that happen? Dams can release water from reservoirs when needed, but this can also happen naturally by rivers and springs flowing underground. It takes a while for the rain to fill up the caverns and spaces between the rocks and subsurface material. When it does, it overflows as groundwater seepage, which keeps water flowing in creeks and streams and rivers, even during extended periods of severe drought.
It’s easy for me to view the world from my limited perspective of reality since I don’t have a complete picture of how everything works around me, including supernatural forces. When I get confused and don’t know what’s up or down or I’m going through a dry time of things not going well and God seems no where to be found, I need to be reminded that his living water is right beneath my feet, and at the proper time, when I least expect it, it will overflow to the surface to quench my thirsty soul.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” (John 6:35)
Dwell in His secret place 