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OD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. (Psalm 46:1-5)
The Nile River of Africa is the greatest and longest in the world – 4,130 miles in length. This river could cross from Washington, DC to Los Angeles and back again. During the months of greatest famine, this river overflows it boundaries to deposit rich minerals and organic soils on the region of the Nile River Delta. In that nature, it is much like the Almighty God in blessing His people in the midst of greatest woe and famine.
Landing at Nairobi Airport in Kenya, on a previous visit, our attention was drawn to a huge and magnificent mountain to the east and south of Nairobi called Kilimanjaro. This majestic mountain is the highest point on the great continent of Africa. It bears the appearance of the Lord’s Table, covered with snow and topped with a level plain causing it to resemble the Table of the Lord covered in fine white linen. The snows there are Eternal – never melting completely away regardless of the heat of the summers. It feeds its waters of the melting snows into Lake Victoria that, in turn, feeds into the life-giving waters of the Mighty Nile.
This River, whose main tributaries are the Blue and White Nile, cascades down the slopes of Africa, thousands of feet down accumulating the rich minerals and organic silt which enrich the Fertile Crescent of Egypt where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. On its path, it crosses the deserts and plains of the mighty African Continent to its destination in Egypt. Here, its waters have become rich in minerals and nutrients that it has collected on its long voyage. It is so rich and bountiful that it overflows its banks in Egypt, depositing its treasures on the Fertile Crescent and making this region the richest in the world. During the greatest of famines, the Nile is even more bountiful in supplying its wealth to Egypt due to the greater degree of melting snows.
This characteristic of the Nile River may be compared to the Nature of God. He has provided the White Manna of Life to us. He hails from on high. He is pure and White and His riches are unsearchable.
So the Nile River is illustrative of the Father in supplying the Manna (Bread of Life) to His people under all conditions including the most adverse. As the beloved hymnist, Francis Havergal has written:
Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.
~ From the hymn by Francis Havergal
The Lord God has placed many marvelous resources in the physical Creation to reflect His greater glory and might in His Heaven above:
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ND he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (Rev 22:1-4)
