Can Your Bow Still Shoot?

When I was a teenager, one of my best friends and I would go bowfishing in a canoe on the St Croix River. The beauty of God's creation in the quietness of the morning with no one else on the water is a memory I can still see, hear and smell in my mind. In the back areas of tributaries of the river, we would discover different levels of large bodies of water due to the beavers creating damns. We would have to portage our canoe and gear up a foot to the new lever of water. We found one body of water that was over 3 feet higher with 5 or 6 beaver huts in it. Simply amazing.
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We would listen for the carp slurping the reeds for breakfast and stealthily make our way in their direction. In total silence, when we were close enough, we would let our arrows go... The carp did not have a chance. I remember starting with a normal bow. Then we moved to a compound bow. The compound bow was always ready to fire with massive tension in the string. But, the regular bow would lose tension after many shots. It would not shoot the arrows as fast, hard nor accurate.

I was gripped the other day by Job's description of how God blessed his life.
"My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches. My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand." Job 29:19-20

As Job sought the living God through out his life, he experienced God refreshing his soul like roots of a tree with plenty of water, like branches with fresh dew every morning and like a freshly strung bow at ultimate tension. Let these images soak in your mind. Let these images bring you into the presence of God. Let these images be tools to let Jesus refresh you.

What is your soul like these days?
Are you sensing Jesus refreshing your soul like this?
Do you put yourself in a position to let your soul drink in God's refreshing living water daily?
Are you still enough in the presence of the Holy Spirit to soak in the refreshing dew daily?
Are you spending personal time with Jesus so that He can restring the bow of your soul so you are ready to go any where and do anything Jesus leads you to do?

Taking the time each day to be refreshed and restrung by Jesus,
Pastor Chris

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