Blocked, redirected and promise achieved! – part 4

· by · in 2008-10 Australia Drought. ·

I wrote Rivers and lakes BEGAN to run – part 3 over the course of a month (Oct-Nov) and then from November to January, I saw much rain but I didn’t see the Murray run (I did see other rivers that have not run for many years!) and I didn’t see Lake Eyre fill up (but I did see other smaller and less well known lakes fill up). So much rain, so much benefit, but not what I was expecting. Then we went into summer, my hopes were delayed to next year.  I was wrong. Again.

I was content with the fulfillment of the Todd and other rivers running and small lakes appearing in the Simpson desert – according to an eye witness who wrote about it. Add to that rain in Saudi Arabia and so many wonderful other things.

But not what I expected. And yet I had a definite sense that something was still going to happen. I could never have imagined what would happen, because God made a way where there was no way.

You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God. Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.

I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

God reminded me during January 2009 (this month) that when the lake fills, my life with Him would change dramatically and I’d have to be very brave. He would then begin to do new things.

It was a source of confusion for me that there had been so much rain, and yet the Murray had not run. What happened to all that rain? It was bizarre. I thought that perhaps the rains would come next year, not this year. I began to think about what to do with yet another year of waiting. Sigh.

But…

Then during the first few days of Jan 09 I heard that there was massive rain in the northern territory. 500mm in a single day! And that this water had formed a flood and it was gushing down something called “Channel Country” and if it kept raining, the torrent would reach Lake Eyre!

Now this is quite something! Lake Eyre is by far the most famous lake in Australia, and it has last had a little bit of water in it during 1999 and it got kinda muddy in 2007. I spoke to someone who was actually there in 2007 and he confirmed he saw it with his own eyes… it was only muddy and nothing more. For the technically inclined here are two NASA articles about Lake Eyre. The key sentences are these:

This region of 1.3 million km2 is known as the “Channel Country”… The image shows an area where rivers emerge from highlands surrounding the Lake Eyre drainage basin… The streams are ephemeral, flowing only in discrete flood seasons that are separated by long droughts… In this century, the lake filled briefly in 1949-1950 and more extensively in 1973-1978. – NASA Sources: Lake Eyre

Here is a Google Maps image of Channel Country. You can read about the size of the Lake Eyre Basin here. This Earth Observatory describes Lake Eyre as one of the largest salt lakes/pans in the world:

Lake Eyre is a large salt lake situated between two deserts in one of Australia’s driest regions. However, this low-lying lake attracts run-off from one of the largest inland drainage systems in the world. The drainage basin is very responsive to rainfall variations, and changes dramatically with Australia’s inter-annual weather fluctuations. When Lake Eyre fills, as it did in 1989, it is temporarily Australia’s largest lake, and becomes dense with birds, frogs and colorful plant life. The Lake responds to extended dry periods (often associated with El Niño events) by drying completely. – Source

At the time of the promise in 2008 Lake Eyre was a dry salt lake and suitable for land speed record attempts. But no more! Take a look at this! 🙂

Channel whaaat?

No one I have spoken to has ever heard of “Channel Country” but as He promised, He made a way in the desert. He had sent sufficient rain for the Murray to flow, but as this honest farmer explains, the rain was diverted into dams and weirs (for safe keeping and use at a later date?)

Brook has attended meetings in the Murray-Darling basin, and heard the complaints from floodplain farmers “who have had the wheels taken out from under them by diversions upstream and they have no water. – Source: Singing in the rains

So, blocked in one area, God fulfilled His promise by sending the rains through a part of the country that no one had heard of, through an area that has no dams or weirs, and an area which leads directly to Lake Eyre (the Lake which I felt He had promised would be filled again).

And the water hasn’t even arrived yet!

The most incredible thing is that as I write this, the two main feeding rivers have not yet brought their bounty of rain into Lake Eyre, but in fact Lake Eyre already has a lake in it and it is about 100Kms wide!

First let me show you what the catchment and the actual lake looks like – then you can find it in the images that follow after.

This is the catchment area, the lake is the blue bit.

Lake Eyre Catchment - the lake is the blue bit

Lake Eyre Catchment - the lake is the blue bit

This is the actual lake – the blue bit…

Lake Eyre itself, not the whole basin

Lake Eyre itself, not the whole catchment

Now that you know what it looks like, you can find it in the next two images.

Google Earth is way out of date with images of Lake Eyre, so I was able to grab an image of the emtpy Lake Eyre from early this year (2009!). The round blue bits (above) are white below because they were salt pans.

Google Earth shows Lake Eyre dry

Google Earth shows Lake Eyre dry (2009)

And now let’s look at Google Maps which is much more recent (for some reason?!) and the salt pans are blue now.

28_jan_2009_gglmaps_100kmwide

Lake Eyre filling up - before the rains arrive!

But the thing to realise is that the rains have not arrived via the rivers yet, but they will be in the next week or so. And it’s still raining! 🙂

Forecast for a few days ahead

Synoptic forecast - more rain to come!

If you want, you can view YouTube videos of people’s travels around Lake Eyre… and notice that not one video shows wet patches.

You can also listen to a news report which is timed/combined with multi-media images to show images as the person speaks and interviews farmers: Flood photos: Channel country and north-west

So what does it all mean?

When God made this promise – that the rivers and lakes in the desert would run – we need to remember that He said it during a time when Australia was in the grip of an awful drought that was destroying livelihoods.

When He said it to me, I believed Him, and He came through. That’s the first thing to recognize and to honor Him for it.

Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:19

He connected the rains and floods to enormous numbers of salvations. I believe we are right on the edge of a change, on the edge of unprecedented numbers of salvations… although I say right on the edge, in fact we are past the edge and we have entered into a remarkable time of change.

  • This is a new season.
  • It’s the beginning of the end, but it’s also the start of something new.
  • It’s not something which is dependent on any one person, just as this promise was fulfilled without the involvement of any person.
  • It’s not something that can be blocked, just as the dams and weirs of the Murray didn’t block the eventual filling of Lake Eyre.

But yes it can be embraced and God can receive the glory that is due to Him through Jesus Christ.

Listen to these words…

[Thus says the Lord] I have for a long time held My peace, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry out like a woman in travail, I will gasp and pant together. – Isaiah 42:14

Of whom have you been so afraid and in dread that you lied and were treacherous and did not [seriously] remember Me, did not even give Me a thought? Have I not been silent, even for a long time, and so you do not fear Me? – Isaiah 57:11

I know the economy was/is tanking and I know that people are hurting and are in the same situation as me, where I have no income beyond a few months from now. Even at the cherith brook eventually the supply ran out (1 Kings 17:7).

But in spite of this worry, I can honestly tell you that this is a fabulous time to be alive. Amazing things are about to happen. We are all – worldwide – in a time of preparation for very wonderful experiences, and our governments are doing an absolutely champion job of helping those most affected. Or if they aren’t yet, I am sure they will begin to do so soon.

When we come out of this “reconfiguring”, I truly believe that we will see a time in which humanity grows and explores and lives abundantly – in a healthy way – unlike it has ever conceived or experienced.

This is a part of a series…