"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11
Back in the seventies when I was a young girl my family took a vacation to the southwest part of the United States. I don't remember exactly where we were but I know that we were in the middle of a desert and it was definitely a sun-scorched land! We had our trusty red and white water Thermos that traveled with us on all our family vacations. It had this cool little cup that fit inside the lid. We all used that cup and nobody complained that there might be germs or even thought about separate bottles of purified water! The Thermos had a spout at the bottom so usually when our family made a stop we would open the van/camper door, slide it to the edge and fill the white cup with water. We had pulled off the road (to probably take pictures of the glorious view) and everyone got their fill of water. That's when IT happened. Somehow the Thermos was knocked out of the vehicle. (I'm sure it had nothing to do with kids scrambling in and out of the vehicle!) Our precious drinking water was being sucked into the dry cracked earth!! We were in the middle of the desert with miles to travel before we could refill the water!! I don't really remember a lot about those miles except that we kids were THIRSTY-PARCHED BEYOND BELIEF!! I'm not sure how our parents put up with us during those miles but somehow we survived to tell the story!
Today opened with a verse from Isaiah in which we are assured that God will take care of our needs. He promises to make us a "well-watered garden". Although I know that God sees to our physical needs I also know there is more to this verse than that. Has there ever been a time in your life in which you have been parched?? I'm not talking here about some child's imagined thirst because she knows the water supply is limited. I'm talking about the need down deep inside that threatens to overtake us. The one in which everything seems like it will never be right again. The one that drags down our day until we are numb. The one that cries out for somebody to love us and cherish us. The one that begs to be understood when we are in the valley of the shadow. All of us have this parched feeling inside of us that far surpasses the physical. We all have a need inside of us that calls out for something to quench this thirst. Many of us flit from one worldly idea or product to another trying to find this "spring whose waters never fail". The problem is we will never find it in what the world has to offer.
Move forward into the new testament of the Bible to the gospel of John. Here in Chapter 4 Jesus has asked a woman in Samaria to draw some water for him to drink. The author has my attention now! The Son of God?- a Jew?-is asking a Samaritan woman to give him some water? That would have been unheard of during Jesus' times. She knows this to be true also and questions him about it. Jesus replies, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." John 4:10 She misunderstands him and questions him about the water in the well and how he could get the water without even having a jar. He responds to her with these words. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
Now please feel free to turn to the fourth chapter of John and keep reading to see what happens to this Samaritan woman and her friends and neighbors! I know you'll love the ending! However, let's focus on what this means to you and me. This parched feeling we have inside us has to do with a separation from God that happened a long time ago in the Garden. There is nothing in this world that will satisfy this thirst, not even a red and white Thermos in the middle of the desert. But, you can find it through God's only son sent here because God loves us so much and desires for us to be with him for all times! Start quenching your thirst my friends!!
Back in the seventies when I was a young girl my family took a vacation to the southwest part of the United States. I don't remember exactly where we were but I know that we were in the middle of a desert and it was definitely a sun-scorched land! We had our trusty red and white water Thermos that traveled with us on all our family vacations. It had this cool little cup that fit inside the lid. We all used that cup and nobody complained that there might be germs or even thought about separate bottles of purified water! The Thermos had a spout at the bottom so usually when our family made a stop we would open the van/camper door, slide it to the edge and fill the white cup with water. We had pulled off the road (to probably take pictures of the glorious view) and everyone got their fill of water. That's when IT happened. Somehow the Thermos was knocked out of the vehicle. (I'm sure it had nothing to do with kids scrambling in and out of the vehicle!) Our precious drinking water was being sucked into the dry cracked earth!! We were in the middle of the desert with miles to travel before we could refill the water!! I don't really remember a lot about those miles except that we kids were THIRSTY-PARCHED BEYOND BELIEF!! I'm not sure how our parents put up with us during those miles but somehow we survived to tell the story!
Today opened with a verse from Isaiah in which we are assured that God will take care of our needs. He promises to make us a "well-watered garden". Although I know that God sees to our physical needs I also know there is more to this verse than that. Has there ever been a time in your life in which you have been parched?? I'm not talking here about some child's imagined thirst because she knows the water supply is limited. I'm talking about the need down deep inside that threatens to overtake us. The one in which everything seems like it will never be right again. The one that drags down our day until we are numb. The one that cries out for somebody to love us and cherish us. The one that begs to be understood when we are in the valley of the shadow. All of us have this parched feeling inside of us that far surpasses the physical. We all have a need inside of us that calls out for something to quench this thirst. Many of us flit from one worldly idea or product to another trying to find this "spring whose waters never fail". The problem is we will never find it in what the world has to offer.
Move forward into the new testament of the Bible to the gospel of John. Here in Chapter 4 Jesus has asked a woman in Samaria to draw some water for him to drink. The author has my attention now! The Son of God?- a Jew?-is asking a Samaritan woman to give him some water? That would have been unheard of during Jesus' times. She knows this to be true also and questions him about it. Jesus replies, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." John 4:10 She misunderstands him and questions him about the water in the well and how he could get the water without even having a jar. He responds to her with these words. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
Now please feel free to turn to the fourth chapter of John and keep reading to see what happens to this Samaritan woman and her friends and neighbors! I know you'll love the ending! However, let's focus on what this means to you and me. This parched feeling we have inside us has to do with a separation from God that happened a long time ago in the Garden. There is nothing in this world that will satisfy this thirst, not even a red and white Thermos in the middle of the desert. But, you can find it through God's only son sent here because God loves us so much and desires for us to be with him for all times! Start quenching your thirst my friends!!
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