trickle to a river

Renée Antrosio – March 17, 2026 1 Comment

Water oozing out from under the threshold on the east side. Not a lot, but a steady flow. No small leak. If this was my house, I’d be on the phone to my plumber in Farmer City (after checking with Jubal ;).  But it’s not my house. It’s God’s house; the messenger showed Ezekiel the water going out under the temple’s facade, south of the altar. Then they used an awesome extended version of my favorite tool- the tape measure- to assess the situation.

With the line in his hand, the man went out toward the east. When he measured off fifteen hundred feet, he made me cross the water; it was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water; it was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water, and it was waist-high. Ezekiel 47:3-4 (CEB)

But let’s go back to the temple, where the water is only a trickle, where what is coming out of the church doesn’t look like much at all. At the source, the living water is barely enough to get your feet wet. That’s how it feels sometimes. That the ministry coming out of God’s house is so small that it could almost be mistaken for a leak, an accident. How is that amount of water going to do anyone any good? 

I didn’t expect this message this morning. Sometimes, preferably, I know what I’m supposed to write about ahead of time. But today I came “with wholly empty hands unto my God”, as my morning meditation encouraged. 

And I noticed something I hadn’t before: that at the doorstep of God’s house, what is flowing out seems so small. Almost insignificant. The impact of living water coming out of the temple was impossible to see while standing at the altar. The priest wouldn’t know it. The congregation inside might not notice it at all; it wouldn’t interrupt the worship service or ruin their shoes. Perhaps they were discouraged that they were producing so little. The effect could only be experienced the farther away from the church Ezekiel and the messenger traveled. 

When he measured off another fifteen hundred feet, it had become a river that I couldn’t cross. The water was high, deep enough for swimming but too high to cross. He said to me, “Human one, do you see?” Then he led me back to the edge of the river. When I went back, I saw very many trees on both banks of the river. He said to me, “These waters go out to the eastern region, flow down the steep slopes, and go into the Dead Sea. When the flowing waters enter the sea, its water becomes fresh. Ezekiel 47:5-8 (CEB)

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years of God’s faithfulness to and through New Covenant- Jubilee June 12-14– I hear stories of the impact of this fellowship far beyond from the confines of our building. The ripple effect of living water starting as a trickle and becoming a river is real, both then and now. Sometimes, standing at the threshold, it feels like not much is happening. We can’t see how this small stream of ministry is making a difference. In Ezekiel’s vision, there wasn’t even a priest or congregation doing the work, pumping the water, handing it out. It just flowed.

Wherever the river flows, every living thing that moves will thrive. There will be great schools of fish, because when these waters enter the sea, it will be fresh. Wherever the river flows, everything will live. Ezekiel 47:9 (CEB)

The vision is God’s encouragement to Ezekiel and to us- not to be dismayed by the seeming smallness of the trickle. Step away from the building, go get your feet wet, travel farther to notice the life-giving effects of what becomes a river. The emanation point is God’s house, the temple, the church. It isn’t our hard work or our great size that produce the water, but we can be present, part of the temple, participating in what God is doing through us and beyond us. 

“on both banks of the river will grow up all kinds of fruit-bearing trees. Their leaves won’t wither, and their fruitfulness won’t wane. They will produce fruit in every month, because their water comes from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for eating, their leaves for healing.”  Ezekiel 47:12 (CEB)

May we be encouraged by the vision of what God is doing within us that continues to impact people much farther than we can see from where we stand. May our leaves not wither, our fruitfulness not wane, that there will be abundance and healing for many. May the trickle flowing out from under our threshold become a life-giving river.  -Renée Antrosio, NCF Pastor