Thirsty

“The water I give you will be an artisan spring within,
gushing fountains of endless life.” (John 4:14 MSG)

It’s a little harder to recognize it in today’s culture, with modern plumbing and underground aquifers and built-in sprinkler systems, but the old adage is still true: water is life. We won’t last three full days without it.

A few years ago my family drove to California. We got about as far as southern Utah before my soul began to ache for some moisture on the landscape. Arizona, New Mexico, most of California, it’s all the same stretch of forsaken land, utterly free of green in early August. The whole trip, I thought about the wagon trains inching west: pioneer husbands and wives and children crossing the dusty abyss with only a square of canvas between them and death. What brave souls! I pondered their courage from the air-conditioned comfort of my late-model minivan, with a cooler full of bottled water at my feet, and I still I feared the vast, dry desert just beyond my window.

Jesus offered living water to the wanton woman at the well and He offers it to us. He offers Himself, the source of all life. He offers to personally place that source deep within our souls by way of the Spirit living in us.

“On the final and climactic day of the feast, Jesus took His stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way,
just as the Scripture says.” (John 7:37-38 MSG)

On the last day of the Feast of Shelters – a week where all the families of God would camp outside in communal proclamation of God’s provision and protection – Jesus stood up and cried out His truth. He’s the source of life. We will never be without as long as we are with Him.

We don’t need to cross the desert dependent on ourselves any longer. We need only to cry out to our Savior, surrender ourselves and believe in the gift of life that we will continually receive. He is our source in the dry desert and verdant valley alike.

Lord, where You are, there is life. Fill us afresh today. Water our souls from within. Dispel our fear of the desert. Help us trust in You entirely. Amen.