AS THE RIVER RUNS

AS THE RIVER RUNS
Monday, June 1, 2026 by LINDA WOOD RONDEAU

Each man will be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and in the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land (Isaiah 32:2 NIV)

Can a person be like a river?

Theologian David Thomas, speaking to generations long since dead and buried, penned these notable words:

The life of a godly man is like a river, not like a stagnant pool or a dead sea. It is ever in motion, sometimes sparkling in the sunbeams, and sometimes shivering in the clouds; sometimes chanting through scenery as beautiful as Eden, and sometimes moaning through districts of miserable desolation; sometimes clear as the day, and sometimes as black as the night. Still it is ever moving to its ocean destiny – progress is its law, infinitude is its home. *

I’ve known a few rivers in my time.

Some are treacherous, like the Oswegatchie in St. Lawrence County. You couldn’t trust the placid appearance of the surface. Underneath, fast-flowing currents had drowned many an unsuspecting soul. As a youth, my brother and I traversed the winding banks of the Raquette River. Then, there is the majestic St. Lawrence, an important geographical landmark in the North Country’s historical development.

The first river taught me caution, the second adventure, the third respect. But each left its mark.

According to Wikipedia, a river is geologically defined as a natural waterway that conveys water, derived from either precipitation or glacial meltwater. The river is born from higher elevation and flows to lower ground irrespective of direction, often in a complex meandering. We also know that while the river provides nourishment, it contours the terrain over which it passes.

Rivers have also been religious symbols.

In pagan worship, rivers have often served as the site of fertility rituals. For Christians, the Jordan River has held symbolic importance for cleansing and as a line demarcating this temporal life and the life eternal.

Following Ezekiel’s vision of a Holy Temple, he sees water flowing from beneath it; and eventually, the stream becomes a river he could not cross. He finds hope in the river because the creatures live wherever the water flows. The trees on the banks flourish and never wither. The New Bible Commentary, Third Edition holds the vision to be prophetic of God’s infilling a Believer. **

Are we like a river?

All of us have an impact on this earth regardless of our religious beliefs. We have the choice to erode or sculpt, to beautify or destroy what we touch, and to nurture or suffocate those around us. How our river flows depends upon the source.

Ezekiel’s River (Ezekiel 47:1-12) flowed from the Holy Temple, its source the very essence of Yahweh. The picture he gives us is one of peace and contentment.

David Thomas indicates that the flow of our lives may not always be placid. We may encounter jugged terrain that causes us to spit and sputter part of our way. But we continue, filled with purpose, our destination eternal.

*David Thomas (1813–1894), an English preacher and publisher of The Homilist.

** *New Bible Commentary Third Edition, Guideposts with Wm. B. Ferdmans Publishing Co, 1970, p. 686

For other devotions by Linda Wood Rondeau

LESSONS ALONG THE WAY

From the author of I Prayed for Patience: God Gave Me Children and Who Put the Vinegar in the Salt

Life is a series of adventures. And each adventure shows us more about our God … his power manifested or his gentle patience demonstrated.

God is with us through the mundane and the miraculous, always teaching us how to experience him fully and lean on him every day.

As in the hymn of old, God leads along—sometimes through troubled waters, sometimes through fire, and sometimes by quiet streams. Always, he is with us, directing us, guiding us, and teaching us what obedience, trust, and love truly mean.

Adapted from her long-running newspaper column, each devotional is a revelation of one of God’s many blessings.

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