Psalm 68:9 NIV
“You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.”
There is a deep-seated refreshing of soul that the LORD alone administers to the weary. It is a refreshing that, among others, renews our passion for God, revives our hope in God, and reenergizes our trust in God through the various seasons of life. Foreshadowing what He would do later in us in Christ, the LORD refreshed Israel throughout the wilderness: He fed them with bread from heaven, made their shoes to grow along with their feet without wearing out, kept a cloud over their heads from the scorching desert sun, and, as recounted by the Psalmist in our reference text, “You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.” Hallelujah!
At one point, Moses pleaded with God, saying, “But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm” (Deu 9:29 NIV). Thus, the “weary inheritance” that the Psalmist referred to in our text is the same that Moses talked about: the children of Israel. Their refreshment was largely on the outward. However, in so doing, God would do a deep and lasting inward refreshing for us in Christ Jesus. Notice, Israel ate physical bread, but we now have the “living bread that came down from heaven”, which “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (Joh 6:51 NIV).
To Israel was given “abundant showers [of physical water]”; but in Christ, we have been given the “living water” (Joh 7:38 NIV) who is the Holy Spirit to refresh us from the inside. Besides receiving the Bread of life (Christ), our inward man is abundantly ‘showered’ by the Spirit of God from time to time. It is for that reason that the renewing, reviving, and reenergizing ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important to us all. Should grief, sorrow, or such things that overwhelm the heart come our way in this life, we can rest in the assured hope that the Spirit of God will refresh and restore our souls by His reliable ministry. Thankfully, unlike physical rain that is not always there in some (dry) seasons, the Living Water is within us throughout all seasons of life (Joh 14:16).
Pst. Emmanuel
