Come and drink

One hot afternoon I was working in the apple orchard with my grandfather as a teenager. He asked me to bring him the water jug ​​so that he could take a long sip of Adam's Ale (which means pure water). That was his flowery expression for fresh still water. Just as pure water is physically refreshing, God's Word enlivens our spirits when we are in spiritual training.

Notice the words of the prophet Isaiah: «For just as the rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there, but moisturizes the earth and makes it fertile and makes it grow, so that it gives seeds to sow and bread to eat, so should it Word that comes out of my mouth will also be: It will not come back to me empty, but will do what I like and he will succeed in what I send it to »(Isaiah 55,10-11).

Much of the area of ​​Israel where these words were written thousands of years ago is dry to say the least. Precipitation meant not only the difference between a bad harvest and a good harvest, but sometimes between life and death.
In these words from Isaiah, God speaks about his word, his creative presence dealing with the world. A metaphor that he uses again and again is water, rain and snow, which give us fertility and life. They are signs of God's presence. «Cypresses should grow instead of thorns and myrtles instead of nettles. And it shall be done to the Lord for glory and an everlasting sign that will not pass away ”(Isaiah 55,13).

Does that sound familiar to you? Think of the curse when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden: «With hardship you shall nourish yourself from it, the field, all your life. He shall bear thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the herbs of the field »(1. Mose 3,17-18).
In these verses we see the opposite of that - the promise of blessings and abundance, rather than more desert and loss. In the west in particular, our needs are more than met. Yet we still have the drought and thorns and thistles in our hearts. We are in a desert of souls.

We desperately need the precious rain and wonderful renewal of God in our lives that are falling on us. Community, worship and service to the broken are the nourishing and strengthening places where we can meet God.

Are you thirsty today? Tired of the thorns that grow from jealousy, the thistles that sprout with anger, the arid desert that arise from demands, stress, frustration and struggles?
Jesus offers you living eternal water: «Whoever drinks this water will thirst again; But whoever drinks of the water that I give him will not thirst for eternity, but the water that I will give him will become in him a source of water that gushes into eternal life »(John 4,14).
Jesus is the fresh source. Come and drink some of the water that always flows. It's what keeps the world alive!

from Greg Williams