“…have streams of living water flow …” John 7:38
What comes to mind when you hear the forecaster declare “we are approaching a serious drought condition”? Do you worry about turning the faucet on and hearing a few gurgles? Or stress wondering how to keep the garden living, or grass green?
Our lives can become like a drought. Prospects for new sales at work dry-up. We feel scorched by a relationship we thought was growing into something fruitful. Or our joy withers when we realize that we don’t have the same abilities we once did a few years ago.
When our hearts become like dry ground cracking apart under the forces that seem out of our control, it can become easy to dampen our senses by things we think will satisfy and delight us, not realizing our scarcity is temporarily quenched.
Jesus knew what drought conditions could cause. He walked in a wasteland for 40 days without food and drink (Matthew 4:1-2). He spent his life surrounded by those who lacked hope for a future, too burned-out from trying to keep up with man-made rules (Mark 7:7). Jesus faced unimaginable thirst as the raw flesh torn from His body from the scourging cracked and split while He hung to the cross in the heat of the day as the sacrifice to defeat disease, sin and death (John 19:28). But, Jesus knew the source of refreshment.
Jesus shared a message that was extraordinary but easy to follow. It focused on growing a relationship with God grounded on faith, bathed in forgiveness, and one that promised the fruit of satisfaction forevermore. It didn’t require rules, or recalling passages from the Bible. The only purpose was to rely on who Jesus said He was, and believe in His promises.
One of His promises was that we would never again be left thirsting for fulfillment. The false gulps of worldly delight will one day run dry. The eternal satisfaction that Jesus offers leads to a living joy that will flow from our hearts forever.
He is only asking us to follow Him as the source of eternal refreshment.
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