WATER FOR OUR PARCHED SOULS
“………..Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ John 4:13,14KJV
My eyes are used to seeing a beautiful shade of green during the fall season into the beginning of the winter season. We have been experiencing weeks without rain and everything is brown. Our what we call 'the golf course' backyard, due to the lush greenery has now transformed into something else.
I watched as the dry days became longer and longer, and the grass became drier and drier. We even noticed some unwanted larvae in the lawn. We do not have an irrigation system, and we never had to water with sprinklers before, due to the fact that since we moved here two and a half years ago, we have not had this long period without rain and the dew was enough to water the lawn.
After two months, we experienced copious showers for a week straight. Low and behold, what do you think happened? Yes, the green has returned.
I shared the observation with others and thought of how dry and discolored we are when we are not watered with the word which is the living word of Christ. The lawn was disconnected from what helps to bring life to it - the nutrients from the rain water. Even though it was getting the sunlight, something else was missing that would have aid in its growing process.
It's the same thing with us. We go to church every week or not at all, but if that one thing that helps in our relationship with the source of nutrition is missing- that bible study, prayer or even serving Christ as well as others is missing, then we are susceptible to any and every unwanted larva. Looking at the lawn, if someone had dropped a match that was lit at one corner, the entire thing would set ablaze because there was no life on top to prevent the spread. That is exactly how sometimes because of our dryness we are susceptible to spreading anger, to yield to temptation and to exhibit unchrist like behavior. The word says in Isaiah 58:11 KJV, 'and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.' Isaiah 44: 3 NLT, 'THe Lord said, for I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields.' When our souls are parched and we have dry spirits, nothing will be able to relieve that dryness except the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our Living water that will provide spiritual nourishment for our dry souls. Just like the story with the Woman At the Well found in John 4:7-10, when we drink from the Living Water we will never thirst again. Once that Living water flows to us or in us then it will flow out to others as we become channels of God's love and grace to the world. God meets us also in our ‘desert moments’ - difficult moments of life when our souls are parched and offers us spiritual renewal from the thirst- quenching source.
God has a fountain that is overflowing for each of us to drink from, a fountain that never goes dry, one that will give us eternal life and continuous spiritual refreshment. Let's drink from that fountain today.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for that fountain of ever flowing water that only you can give. Our souls are dry and we are in need of drinking from your well. Please quench our thirst so we can be filled with your word and share it with others. We ask for an infilling of your Holy Spirit so we can go tell the world to come see a Man, that gives us water and we will never thirst again. We thank you for new life and praise your name, Amen.
REFLECTION:
How would you ask Jesus to share the Living water with you?