The Waters and the Pilgrim

By Anthony S. Zimmer

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As the warm water supplied by the Euphrates sprays gently from the shower head onto my shoulders,
I recall my father telling me about how our family escaped from Egypt through the Red Sea –

“If the LORD had not been on our side, then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The proud waters would have gone over our soul”

And the Jordan River –

“If the LORD had not been on our side, then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul.”

My father, long dead, tells me now –

“The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion,
And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.”

Turn again our captivity, O LORD!

The LORD splits the Euphrates! and drowns me in the Jordan! that impassable barrier that impedes every pilgrim’s progress,
And fire and cloud and Nehemiah pull me upward to Ezekiel’s river, and I flourish in Edenic Zion.

Under the warm water of the Euphrates I wait for the LORD,
My soul doth wait.

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Anthony S. Zimmer has served in a variety of pastoral roles in America and South Africa. Bi-vocational, he lives and works at the nexus of business, missions, local ministry and theology. He holds a bachelor’s in Bible and Theology, an MBA, and is working towards an MA in Biblical Interpretation.

Anthony's other work on Foreshadow:
How to Be Christians When We Hate Our Job (Non-fiction, October 2022)