Flash Drought

O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. --Psalm 63:1

I heard a meteorological term this week that I have not heard before.  The term is "flash drought", and it apparently was popularized (if not actually coined) during the rapid onset of the central US drought in May and early June, 2012.   These events are described as decreases in soil moisture associated with unusually high temperatures coupled with increases in evaporation in a relatively short period of time.

The air temperature rises so rapidly that the moisture in the soil evaporates.  The soil is so dry that the vegetation dries out or dies completely.  It is so dry that any spark, such as that caused by a horseshoe striking a rock, can lead to a major fire, covering thousands of acres.

I have heard meteorologists before speak of "fire season", where wildfires will start in the Western United States.  Firefighters during the summer months may be called to help fight local fires in California, Nevada, and Arizona.  Some of these fires could have been caused by careless campers not dousing their campfires completely.  Some of them could have been started by lightning strikes.  More recently, however, wildfires have sprung up in less arid places, such as Montana and Wyoming.  It is these recent fires that have been attributed to flash droughts.

Apparently, there are two different kinds of flash droughts.  The first is caused by a heat wave.  High temperatures cause an increase in evaporation, and lead to decreases in soil moisture.  Heat Wave flash droughts have nothing to do with lack of precipitation.  The second kind of flash drought is called Precipitation Deficit flash drought.  This type is caused by a lack of rain, which in turn causes the soil to dry out.  The dry soil causes temperatures to rise.

The effect is the same for both kinds.  Both involve heat, evaporation, and lack of moisture.  One dries out the moisture stored in the ground.  The other is caused by lack of precipitation feeding moisture to the ground.  One is caused by heat in the environment; the other causes heat in the environment.

I don't mean to get so technical, but there is a point I'm driving to.  Be patient with me.

The Bible speaks of cataclysmic events in the end times.  Revelation 9 describes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:

And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.  A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.  --Revelation 9:17-18

Many modern Bible scholars have theorized that the cataclysm that would cause the death of one third of mankind would have to be a nuclear war or something similar.  Thoughts like this are fresh in our minds with current events such as the saber rattling of North Korea, a fledgling nuclear power, and the fierce response by the United States, the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war.  Indeed, the major deterrent for the use of nuclear warheads over the last fifty years has been something called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

I don't know much about eschatology (the study of the End Times), or about nuclear war.  I believe that if there was an all-out nuclear war, much more than one-third of all mankind would die.  Much more than one-third of the fish in the sea would perish, as was prophesied in Revelation 8:9--besides, this prophecy about the sea appears to be a separate event.  I think it could be just as likely that there could be widespread flash droughts, causing multiple wildfires, that could set off a chain of events resulting in cataclysmic death rates.  If the wildfires are near major metropolitan areas, the flames and the smoke could cause the deaths of millions, even a couple billion.  God could use a discarded cigarette butt here, a lightning strike there, a few unattended campfires and even a horseman riding over a rock causing a spark--all of these could be used by God to bring about His will and the fulfillment of His Word.

Unfortunately, I am all too familiar with times of drought closer to home.  No, I don't mean a lack of precipitation.  I am talking about a spiritual drought.  There have been too many times when I have neglected prayer and Bible study.  The lack of communion with God through my speaking with Him (through prayer) and Him speaking to me (through His word) has often caused me to wander in a spiritual wasteland.  Other times, the worries of the world and the pressure Satan builds up against us has worn me down, causing a deep thirst for God.

In the Old Testament, there are two different words for "drought".  One is the Hebrew word choreb, which is translated heat, dry, drought, waste, and desolation.  This is the word used in Genesis 31:40: "Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes."  This use of the word "drought" can be thought of as environmental.  It is like the heat wave flash drought--it has nothing to do with precipitation; that is, it doesn't matter how much we pray or study Scripture, the devil brings this drought to bear on us.  And if we don't hydrate, if we don't continually be subject to "the washing of the water and of the word" (Ephesians 5:26), then we can become parched, desolate, and laid waste.

God's mercy covers this possibility.  Isaiah 4:6 says, "There will be a shelter (or Tabernacle) to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain." Later, that same writer said, "For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against a wall." (Isaiah 25:4).

The second term used in the Old Testament for "drought" is the word tsiyah, translated dry land, wilderness, dry places, solitary place.  It is the word used in Job 30:3, "For want and famine they were solitary, fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste." (KJV).  I think of this kind of drought as more self-inflicted or voluntary.  If we isolate ourselves from God and from His provision for us, it is like the flash drought caused by a lack of precipitation.  Without water, the soil of our soul evaporates what little moisture is left, and it causes life to heat up around us.  "But they sinned even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness." (Psalm 78:17).

Even then, the solution is by the grace of God.  If you are a Christian, you can see Him strike the rock and see Living Water flow out and fill the dry places.  If you have not  yet accepted Him, you can come out of the wilderness and accept His free gift of eternal life.  "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5).

We can wallow in sin and reap destruction, or we can come to the Fountain.  "Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11).  Hebrews 10:22 says, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

I hope you are seeing a pattern here.  The key to avoiding spiritual drought is hydration.  When the heat is on, or a heat wave comes in out of nowhere, realize that evaporation will follow.  If that water is not replenished, you could be consumed.  Alternately, if we fail to tap the Source and partake of the Living Water frequently, then our reservoir will run dry and we will be in danger of faltering in our faith, or wandering in a desolate death spiral.  The time of testing is coming.  The prophet Zechariah said this:

And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it;  I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.  They will call on My name and I will answer them.  I will say, "This is My people," and each one will say, "The Lord is my God."  --Zechariah 13:8-9

Bring on the heat--just don't forget where the water is.


I KNOW WHERE THERE'S WATER
by Ponder, Sykes & Wright

In a dry and thirsty land I know where there's water,
In the burning desert sand I know where there's water;
There's a place where I can go where the living waters flow,
To refresh my weary soul I know there's water.

I know I can't live my life based on how I feel,
But at times there is a famine across the land in which I dwell;
But I know there's a mountain where blood from His side fell,
And the blood became a fountain, the fountain a living well.

In a dry and thirsty land I know where there's water,
In the burning desert sand I know where there's water;
There's a place where I can go where the living waters flow,
To refresh my weary soul I know there's water.

This world takes my strength until there's nothing left,
And it's a hopeless battle to fight it by myself;
So when the times I'm weak from this journey I am on,
There's a wellspring that I drink from flowing from the Cornerstone.

In a dry and thirsty land I know where there's water,
In the burning desert sand I know where there's water;
There's a place where I can go where the living waters flow,
To refresh my weary soul I know there's water.

To refresh my weary soul I know there's water.
I know where there's water;Yes, I know where there's water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVUJbSfZTAc