Water From Air Conditioners

It is human nature to perhaps look to the future and see nothing but disaster waiting in the wings. This is going to go wrong. That is going to go wrong. Certainly, problems will develop, but they might not always be the problems we foresee and prepare for either.

I remember reading an article once illustrating this fact. People once sat down and projected the growth of New York City back when everyone rode horses. Those people began to worry, in alarmist fashion, about what they would do with all of the horse manure that would pile up from millions of horses.

It turns out that problem never developed. Cars replaced horses before the manure problem could become a reality. Sure, environmentalists might say the car is worse, but the facts remain, we can’t tell the future, and many of the things that we worry about might never come true.

In this vein, I was given a reminder of Matthew 6:26-27 the other day as I pulled into a rest area during a road trip. The verse is look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

It was a hot day. There were no water sources in sight. The birds flying around were probably thirsty. Then the car parked next to me backed up and drove away. It left a puddle of water behind that had condensed off of its air conditioner unit. As soon as the car was gone, a flock of sparrows descended and drank the pure water that had basically miraculously appeared out of nowhere.

I was struck by how creative God was and how He could work within any circumstances with whatever is available. It was hot. The birds could use a drink. Who would have thought God could use parked cars to bring them water?

We can’t see the future and we can’t control all of our circumstances, but we can remind ourselves that God is in charge of this world, whether we believe it or not, and He is an ever-present help to us. Who knows how His deliverance may come, whether it is through earthly means or heavenly means, whether He solves the problem, removes the problem, uses the problem to strengthen us, or delivers us from the problem by taking us to heaven — no matter what, we can trust God’s promise that we are of great value to Him, so much so that He purchased and won us with the priceless blood of Christ.