Receding Waters and Receding Holy Spirit?

Since the summer 2025, south central Virginia has been in a drought. The water level of Buggs Island Lake (or Kerr Lake if you live in NC) has slowly continued to drop. As of January 25, the level was at 294.60 feet, according to John H. Kerr Reservoir Water Level. The normal level is 300 feet. The water level has continued to drop since July 2025. If you drive around the lake, you will see coves which are now connected due to lack of water to fill them as well as docks and walkways on dry land. You can walk across many of these coves.

God spoke to me about this dry land. I was driving across the lake and again saw the amount of dry land that has continued to enlarge due to the receding waters. This location had a massive area of dry land filled with rocks, trees, limbs, and other debris. The dock was entirely on the ground. As I glanced over, I heard God say that we “have become barren like this ground”; a barren land; a barren people; a land without Him; a dry faith.

I looked up the meaning of “barren”.

·       not productive: desolate 

·       producing inferior crops, unproductive of results or gain: fruitless

·       devoid, lacking 

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barren

If we are a barren people, it means that we are not producing spiritual fruit, and what we are producing is inferior to what it should be. We are devoid of the Holy Spirit and lacking in its fruit. We have become disconnected from our source, the Holy Spirit.

The receding waters show us how disconnected we are and what lies underneath the covering of the waters - stumps, fallen trees, branches, rocks, holes, etc. These now exposed warnings can represent trials, challenges, failures, and unbelief in our lives. If we are disconnected from the Holy Spirit, the receding waters will reveal us as unfruitful, dry, and barren.

Throughout the Bible, waters have significant spiritual influence. However, the one theme which seems to apply to this situation is:

Divine Presence in Trials: Receding waters symbolize overwhelming circumstances (trials, pandemics) where God promises to be present and guide His people through, not destroy them. (AI generated)

This presence is understood as God's active involvement and support during times of difficulty, providing strength, guidance, and peace.

Topical Bible: Divine Presence in Trials

We need these divine waters to keep us connected to the Holy Spirit and the branch of life. I sense that God is desperately showing us what we need to do by revealing what is under our covering.

How do we produce “good fruit” for God?  It is produced by the Holy Spirit as stated in Galatians 5:22. The fruit of His Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As the Holy Spirit has free rein in our lives, we see more fruit.

Jesus told us how to bear good fruit:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

What is God showing you through the receding waters? What will you do to get out of the muck and back to the divine waters of the Holy Spirit to produce good fruit?

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel