As I write this, it is raining. The forecasted torrents can be heard but not seen, since it is still early morning and dark outside. But the lack of visual ability sharpens my ears to the sound of the water hitting the hard places outside, running off the roof and the sidewalk to find a place to rest and soak into the ground. As I close my eyes and listen, the cadence of the water easily soothes me and helps me to rest and soak into my quiet time with the Lord.
As I visualized what was happening outside, hearing the water rush through my gutters, I thought about how water constantly runs to find its resting place. It cannot rest on the hard concrete or the non-porous shingles of my roof, so it keeps flowing until it finds a spot to achieve its purpose. Water is vital for life, but it can’t give life to my sidewalk. So it moves on, looking for a place to seep in and fill up.
Do you remember the exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well? In John 4, He talks to her about Him being the source of living water, saying in verses 10 and 14, “Jesus answered her, “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…..but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus wasn’t talking about the water contained in that well. And He wasn’t talking about the water in our faucets. However, we’ve all been physically thirsty, so Jesus brilliantly uses something we’re familiar with to speak to a deeper principle. When you’re thirsty, water is the answer and it satisfies the need, right? It replenishes what you’ve lost and gives your body what is necessary to maintain life. But when you’re not thirsty, you can decline to even sip water. If you don’t want it, you won’t drink it. You may need it, but if you don’t identify that you’re thirsty, you may choose to take a pass.
But there is another thirst, a different type of arid place we can find ourselves in. This is soul thirst, a parched palate which needs replenishment that we can find nowhere else. This thirst aches, craves, searches for something to pour in, give life to the dry places and fill up the empty spaces. This is the thirst for living water. And until the living water satisfies it, it will always thirst.
Hey moms…as you sit there with your coffee or your water bottle within reach, do you find yourself thirsty? Soul thirsty? Looking for direction when it comes to decisions about your children, your marriage, and the direction of your life? Perhaps you find yourself wanting more, but you don’t know what that more is, because possessions or actions don’t satisfy it. We all thirst, yet so many of us don’t know what it is we’re thirsty for. No more guesswork. Let me go ahead and confirm it for you: You are thirsty for living water. And there is only one person who can give it to you.
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” – John 7:37
You see, when it’s pouring rain like it is this morning and the water is running off the hard places, it’s looking for a place to give life. The hard places are intolerant of it, refusing to or incapable of accepting the life-giving qualities it has. So it runs on, searching for someplace thirsty to welcome it and let it soak in. It WANTS to soak in, to give life, and fulfill its purpose.
“Open wide your mouth and I will fill it” – Psalm 81:10
So here is the next question to ponder: Are you a hard place? Do you have hard places? We might be thirsty in some deep dark places but we keep them sealed off, parched and out of reach from the water that so desperately wants to heal them. We wall those places up with concrete and dress them up with decorative shingles, but underneath they still yearn for replenishment and ache to be filled. Take some time and pray about this one. If you find a small hole or a large cavern that needs to be filled, offer it up to Him. In doing so, you form a small crack in the wall to allow the water to seep in and begin to fill it. Allow the living water to become a healing balm, and satisfy your thirst.
As daylight pushes away the darkness, I can look out my window and see the water flowing through the creek bed, pushing away leaves and sticks and removing all barriers from its path as it flows toward its place of life-giving rest. The ground is saturated, waiting to accept and give life to any seed sowed in it, and nurturing the seed that has already been planted. However, my sidewalk, a hard place, has not yielded one bit. It is still there, impermeable, and the water is instead flowing across it looking for a place to be received. The dry area underneath remains dry and will never see any nourishment or life. Yet I see one area that has a crack in it. From that crack, a few little green sprigs have sprung through. Their thirst has been satisfied, and they have been given life.
“I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.” –Psalm 119:31
I urge you to evaluate your dry places. I invite you to allow Jesus to quench your arid places with the living water that will satisfy your thirst. And I advise that you feed on His Word. Be filled, friend.
“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” -Psalm 107:9
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you know of my dry places. You are aware of my thirst and how to heal it. Help me to crack any hardened places and allow Jesus to fill them up. I accept and receive the living water that only Jesus can provide. It’s in His name I pray, Amen.
Click here to listen to an inspirational song by Chris McClarney titled Thirsty! Jesus Loves You!
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