If it dries up, suddenly There will not be the same amount of water that people:
- Rely On them to Quench Their Thirst
- Use to Water Their Lawns
- Use to Power Their Homes
- Water to Wash and Clean
- Grow Their Crops
And by the way, did you know that the majority of the power that runs through Las Vegas comes from the Colorado River?
If farmers:
- Cannot grow crops
- Food imports will stop in this region
This will lead to even more worldwide shortages. The Earth has never been under so much pressure.
Oh! How we need to pray for more rain
because scientists are now predicting that in just two years’ time, Lake Mead could drop a further 30 feet.
In 2022, Mead reached an all-time record low. It was standing at 1,040 feet above sea level. That’s 130 feet lower than it was in the year 2000.
You can see where the water once resided on these lines and how quickly it suddenly dropped. And if this rate continues, once again, America could see a historical mass migration where 40 million precious souls are forced to flee to the Midwest or to North America to try and find water and a better way of life.
This again would shake up the whole world as people would be forced to adapt, as food stores would suddenly become overcrowded, as resources are strained, and as houses become scarce, then the prices would rise, which would lead to more inflation.
All this combined could cause America’s economy to crash. It will in turn destabilize other countries, which could lead to a huge economic collapse around the world. I’m concerned about the future of these people’s lives and the future of their children.
What is the most famous river in Britain? The river Thames? Have you seen what is happening to the River Thames recently? It’s drying up just like Lake Mead.
But what is the current situation of Lake Mead? Well, it is true that the water levels have slowly started to rise, but we can still see that we’re not out of the woods yet.
In fact, this last March look what has just happened?
The waters were at an all-time record low. But why is this? Is it because we haven’t seen lots of rainfall and snowstorms on the news recently?
Although it is true we have gotten lots of rain, because the ground is so dry, it’s so parched, any water that finds itself on the ground is quickly absorbed and you don’t get that vital surface runoff that is needed where it flows into the streams and tributaries and bulks out the river.
Now, I’m not an expert, but I’ve been told there is still hope because with just one or two more years of weather like what we’ve just seen, the waters could quickly return to normal levels. But ultimately, only time will tell what the future is for the Colorado River.
Did you know that the Bible actually describes something very similar to what we’ve been talking about?
The Scripture talks about surface runoff in Job 24, verse 19 says, As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned.
Just like a snowpack on the Rocky Mountains, once it hits that burning sand, once it hits that hot drought, it soon dissolves. It’s soon swallowed by the Earth.
Here the Bible draws a similar picture, a harsh picture of the man or the woman who’s lived their life against God:
- As soon as they die, the grave takes up all
- As soon as they die, they vanish silently beneath the Earth
without leaving a trace behind. Did you know the Hebrew word for consume here can also mean to rob, to tear away by force?
Just like heat seizes the snowy waters in an instant, the grave seizes everything:
- That a man or woman ever had
- All the life they’ve lived
- They may have been adored
- They may have flourished in life
- They may have lived for many a bright hour
But when they enter that grave, they lose everything.
Everything is taken from them in one instant.
Here’s a question for you. What do:
- Mac Miller
- Kobe Bryant
- Marilyn Monroe
- Paul Walker
- Joan Rivers
- Muhammad Ali
- Whitney Houston
- Stephen Hawking
all have in common? Sadly, they are all dead.
You can have the:
- Brains of Stephen Hawking
- Beauty of Marilyn Monroe
- Belts of Muhammad Ali
- Bounce of Kobe Bryant
- Beats of Mac Miller
And yet the grave claims it all. The grave will take everything you have without giving it a second thought.
Do you know what happens the moment after you are buried?
- People stop crying and when they have a plate full of sandwiches and a drink in their hand, they quickly start discussing sports, the news, and their own problems.
- They soon forget that they are at your funeral.
- Straight after your funeral, your family will start arguing about who deserves what amount of money and whose possessions should be cut because after all, they love you the most.
- Your boss will quickly look for a replacement for your job.
- Your friends will soon fill up the evenings that you used to spend with them with other activities and other people.
- Your spouse will move on much faster than you could ever imagine.
- Your kids will laugh and fill their lives with busyness to the point where they easily forget the one who raised them.
- In the first year of your death, yes, you will have fresh flowers laid on your grave.
But as the years go by, those flowers will begin to wither like the memory of you in other people’s minds. So let me ask you a question. If people are so quick to forget you, why do you spend your life chasing them instead of chasing the one who will never forget you?
The Bible says in Psalm 27:10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, the Lord cares for me. There is one:
- Who will never forget you
- Who will never abandon you
- That no man can ever compare to this person’s love for you
This person is God:
- God doesn’t love you because you’re beautiful
- God doesn’t love you because you’ve achieved great things in this life
- God doesn’t love you because you have money
- God loves you because he is God
The Bible says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we are called children of God. But here’s the big question:
- Are you one of his children?
- Are you a child of God?
- Have you received the love of God the Father?
- Has He demonstrated His love by putting His son on the cross for your sin?
You see:
- You and I have done wrong things
- We’re sinners
- We fail God every single day
- Yet God put his son on the cross
He prepared a sacrifice so that you and I could be forgiven!
You see, just like on those mountains, those Rocky Mountains, when it snows, there’s something rather beautiful about the snow. The Bible says that because Jesus shed his blood on that cross, forgiveness is possible.
The Bible goes even further. It says, By the shedding of blood, there can be forgiveness of sins, and his blood alone can wash us whiter than snow.
Although:
- We do wrong things
- At times we’re ugly on the outside
- Maybe not physically
- Maybe we look beautiful in the mirror
- But inside we’re full of sin and
- God sees right through us
He sees our ugliness. But if we come to the cross, that blood will clean us and make us more beautiful than the Rocky Mountains in God’s eyes because we look like his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
See him there, pinned at the cross, dying there. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced a drought on the cross.
One of the sayings that Christ said is:
- I thirst
- He was thirsty
- He agonized on that cross so that we could be forgiven
Have you come to the one who:
- Yes, He died and He was put in the ground
- But the ground did not consume him like the water we’ve thought about before
- The ground did not swallow him up
- No, on the third day, the ground had to obey him
- He had to come out of the ground, out of the tomb, into daylight
- He’d beaten the grave and he can beat your grave if you put your trust in him
Have you come to the one who loved you, who says, Right now, I have:
- Rivers of forgiveness
- Rivers of joy that will never, ever dry up
I command you to come now:
- Drink of that life
- Have life abundantly
- Have a full life
Because let’s be honest, we don’t know what the future is of the Colorado River, of the Thames River. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Our world looks rather bleak right now if we’re honest.
But there’s one thing we can know:
If we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have a wonderful future, an eternity with Him!
I’m asking you, I’m inviting you right now to bow the knee to Christ and to come to Him. Have something:
- Which is certain
- Which you can stand on
- That person is Christ
So you come to Him right now in this very moment. And you know, there’s one river that’s drying up even faster than the Colorado River. That river is your eternal life.
One very important question remains,
Where will you spend eternity in?