Some versions read, “THE ANGEL showed me the river of the water of life” whilst others say “HE showed me” (Revelation 22:1); it is supernatural, it is thoroughly spiritual and it is essential that this happens to us.  God help us to SEE THE RIVER!  Whether it seems to be a living angelic being the Holy Spirit of God uses or He Himself we must, like that apostolic, prophetic man of God John, behold the flowing stream that makes glad the city of God.  We will turn into dry old sticks and our churches into staid dead places unless we see the Holy Stream of God that turns saltwater into fresh and whose waters nourish the tree of life at the heart of the heavenly city and flows ever onward impacting all nations.  Already, in these sentences we have brought together three occasions in which we find this recurring metaphor seen throughout the Bible (Revelation 22:1-3, Ezekiel 47:1-12, Psalm 46:4).  In the natural world a river cuts its own course if left to itself.  Its flow is not necessarily uniform and is the result of great processes of evaporation, cloud and rain.  Frequently river sources are unknown until searched out by intrepid explorers and as they run their courses they bring fertility to barren places and on their banks mankind has established its cities.   We all know about rivers.  We love to walk beside them, they can be fearsome in the ferocity of their flow or calm and tranquil in their inexorable onward movement, wide or narrow, shallow or deep depending on all sorts of factors.  I think we are drawn to rivers, in some countries I have spoken to those, who with nostalgic remembrance have said, “the last time there was water flowing in this stream bed was twenty years ago, we have had so little rain.”  Others have taken me to places where they have pointed out a post with a line on it and remarked, “when the river overflowed the flood waters reached right up to there.”  

Seneca was a Roman philosopher and the title of this musing comes from him.  It is a telling statement and we need to consider it seriously as we enter into this new-year.  I confess I have never read Seneca and found this quote in a book by Nicholas Carr, it is entitled ‘The Shallows’ and has the sub-title “How the Internet is changing the way we read, think and remember.” It is always good to read a book confirming ones own growing convictions!  I say that tongue in cheek, but Carr certainly does that for me as he reasons through issues to do with the plasticity of the brain and the way it is reshaped by new technology.  He draws information from all sorts of research and it inexorably leads to the conclusion that the web fosters ignorance.  I have had my misgivings about aspects of the Internet revolution and there is mass of evidence corroborating that this monolith is both help and a profound hindrance.  We need wisdom from God as we engage in the use of it.