Day 1…I just love a story that begins with “Once upon a time” and ends with “and they all lived happily ever after”. Today’s story is even better than a fairy tale…because it really happened! Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“…and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain…” Revelation 21:4
Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in…your nose pressed against the window while the party inside goes on without you…alone…outcast…misfit…rejected. What a horrible way to feel.
The Samaritan woman didn’t go to the well when everyone else did. She went in the middle of the day…when it was hot…when no one else would be there. She went when she wouldn’t have to hear anyone talking about her…she went when her face wouldn’t have to turn red from shame. She went when she would be alone.
What did she think about while she was there getting her water? Did she think about what a mess her life was in…married 5 times…and now living with a guy she wasn’t even married to? Did she wish she could just start all over again? In the middle of her shame did she have any hope left at all?
And then there were all those love stories that she had grown up hearing… it seemed they all happened at a well. She could tell you the stories in her sleep…man on a journey meets girl at well… girl rushes home to tell everyone what happened… man meets girl’s parents…man and girl engaged. A well might have helped Zipporah and Moses, Isaac and Rebekah, and Rachel and Jacob find each other…but all she had ever found at a well was loneliness.
One day everything changed…she got to the well and He was there. He was tired from His journey and He asked her for a drink. He actually talked to her! He offered her “Living Water” and told her she would never be thirsty again. How she wanted that water.
She learned that He knew everything about her…all the broken relationships in her past. He even knew about the guy she was living with. It was if He had been there waiting just for her. Before long, she knew Jesus wasn’t like all the other men in her life...He was different. She asked Him if He was the Messiah (the Christ) and the answer was yes! She dropped her water jar and rushed back home to tell everyone what had happened. For two days, Jesus met with her people… and many of her people found Jesus as their Savior.
Do you know that in the Bible, Jesus calls himself the “bridegroom”? And do you know that the Bible calls followers of Jesus, his “bride”? Are you starting to see the picture? She went to the well an outcast…while there, she met The Bridegroom. He spent time with her people and when He left she was the “bride to be” of the Prince of Peace.
One day Jesus is returning for His “bride”. If you haven’t met the bridegroom He’s waiting for you right by the well. He will take away your shame. He will give you Living Water. He will change your life…and one day He will wipe every tear from your eyes.
Good for you…You finished Day 1. As I drift off to sleep tonight, I am going to think about how God knows my name and my thoughts and my tears. I am going to remember the day He was sitting right there by the well…waiting for me.
Day 2… Okay, pretend you are on a trip in the wilderness and you are really weary… and hot… and thirsty…and dry…and thirsty… and hot… and did I mention thirsty? You have walked for miles and it seems you don’t have one tiny bit of strength left. Then you see it…up ahead…tiny bits of green poking up between the rocks. Is it a dream…is it a mirage…could it be…an oasis? It is!!!! It is!!! It is an oasis. Congratulations…you just found the “Living Water”. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“For the Lord your God is brining you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills” Deuteronomy 8:7
If you were to go to a restaurant today there is a question I am pretty sure you won’t be asked, “What can I get for you folks this evening, Living Water or Dead Water?” I think if I was ever given that choice I would leave pretty quickly. But in Jesus' time, people knew exactly what Living Water was. Living Water was water from natural springs or fountains. It was free-flowing, always new, refreshing and cool. You didn’t have to dig a well and draw up the water to drink. The water was right there, bubbling out of the rock like a miracle.
As God’s people were being led like sheep, on their wilderness journey to the “Promised Land” they had to trust God for everything! He led them with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. He fed them manna from Heaven. He provided water for them. Let’s look up Deuteronomy 8:15.
He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. Dt 8:15
What did God lead them through?
What did God bring out of the rock for them?
Isaiah 41:18, 20 says this…
I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs (vs 18).
…so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. (vs20)
God was letting everyone know that these special water fountains…these “Living Water” fountains were proof of His existence and His provision for His people.
Jesus understood all about people that were thirsty. They didn’t live in the wilderness…their lives were the wilderness. That is why He offered the woman at the well “Living Water”. He offered the one thing that would help her to never be thirsty again…He offered her Himself. He offered her salvation for her sins…he offered her a hope and a future. He offered her a fresh start.
If you need a fresh start He is still there. The fountain of “Living Water” still flows. It has never run dry. If you know someone who needs a fresh start, begin to pray today that they will find the fountain.
Good for you…you finished Day 2. The next time I see a beautiful fountain, I am going to stop for a few minutes and thank God for His “Living Water”.
Day 3… Nasty tasting fish-flavored water...ever had it? I sure hope not! Every time the lake turns over the water at my house tastes like nasty, stinky fish. One day I had enough of the fish water. I called the water people and within a week, fresh spring water was delivered to my door in beautiful 5-gallon jugs. Ahhhh! Fresh spring water…as long as I have enough money I will never have to drink stinky fish water again. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13
God’s people had finally made it to the Promised Land. They had left the wilderness behind and now entered into a beautiful land full of springs and fountains. However, there was a problem. Although God was giving them the land…there were battles to fight. God wanted them to trust him and to enter the land as his people…his holy people.
God’s people thought of God as their shepherd… their wilderness God. He had led them through the desert…but now they were in farm country. The people in this land worshiped a different god…a farm god…the false god of fertile ground. Worshiping the false god was about as far from holy as a person could get.
The people of Canaan thought that their false god Baal went down to Hades every winter and they wanted him to come back in the spring and bring rain for their crops. So the people would gather at their local high place that was dedicated to Baal and his mistress/mother Asherah. They would engage in immoral sex hoping to persuade Baal to have sex with Asherah and as these false gods had sex, they believed rain would fall. Sometimes people would even take their first born children and place them on an altar of fire so that the children could be burned alive and make the false god happy. This false fertility religion was sick, cruel, and perverted. This religion was the driving force of the land of Canaan.
Our scripture today talks about people forsaking springs of living water for cisterns. What was a cistern? A cistern was a very large cave like, bottle shaped pit carved out of the ground to hold rainwater. The water was collected from rain runoff. As the water ran off the roofs, down the filthy streets and into these pits we can only imagine how dirty it was. Sometimes it would even have dead animals floating in it. At its very best cistern water was stale, dirty, and old. Compared to bubbly clean spring water…living water…we can easily call cistern water…dead water. And the Israelites chose this dead water instead of God’s living water. What does that mean? It means that God’s people began to worship the false fertility god Baal.
The thought of that makes me so incredibly sad…but it is also something that I don’t want to ever forget. God has given us all a job to do…just like the Israelites were to have undivided hearts for God as they entered the land of Canaan, we are to have undivided hearts for God as we reach out to a sinful rebellious world. When temptation comes our way, we are to resist it and stay devoted to God. Cisterns were also called pits and they were used sometimes as temporary prisons. When we give in to the temptation of sin, we put ourselves into those prisons.
I would like for you to read Psalm 40…It’s a beautiful psalm about being lifted out of a pit. It talks about being put on firm ground, and the wonders of God’s plans for us. It talks about the new song God gives us. As we get to know God through His word and we are changed and filled with God’s Holy Spirit we will be able to turn away from temptation and keep our heart undivided for the One True God.
Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David, A psalm.
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offering and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come – it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do you will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “The LORD be exalted!”
Yet I am poor and needy; may the LORD think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Good for you…you finished Day 3. As I drift off to sleep tonight...I am going to think of this scripture, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” Isaiah 55:1 And I am going to thank God that whether I have money or not…His water is always free.
Day 4… I just love to go fishing! There is just something so calm and soothing about being on the water. Today we are going to go on a little fishing trip. Grab your pole and climb on board. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38
On my daddy’s boat we had something called a fishfinder. It was like a little radar that would help us peak under the water to find the fish. It was a helpful little machine. OK…are you all ready to fish?
Let’s turn on our fishfinder...do you see anything yet? Nope…me either. Hold on a second while I make a quick call and see if I can find out what’s the matter with this thing. “What…you mean the machine isn’t broken…we’re on the what…the Dead Sea…you’re kidding…no fish in the sea at all…well I never…sea too salty…nothing can live in it…you don’t say…no wonder I got such a good deal on this little fishfindin’ machine.”
We could have the fanciest fishfindin’ machine in the world and it wouldn’t do us any good at all if we were fishing on the Dead Sea. Why…you might ask? Because you can’t catch something that isn’t there. There isn’t a single fish living in the Dead Sea…no not one…hard to believe isn’t it. Nothing can survive in its super salty water.
The Dead Sea is such a beautiful body of water. It’s about 50 miles long and about 10 miles wide…but it is just so salty. I’m sure you know how salty ocean water is…well the Dead Sea is five times saltier. How did it get so dead and salty you might wonder…well it’s really pretty simple. Water flows into the lake but it doesn’t flow out.
You might also wonder what in the world the Dead Sea has to do with our lesson this week. It’s simple...we don’t want to be like the Dead Sea. We don’t want to take in all the good fresh “Living Water” and just keep it all to ourselves. We have to let it flow out of us to others. Let’s look at a scripture together…look at the beginning of Isaiah 41:17.
The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
Who is searching for water?
Is there any water to find?
What is parched with thirst?
This is what we have been called to do...be filled with God’s “Living Water.” As we spend time… intimate fellowship time, with God our Father, the natural result is that his living water flows out of us to a thirsty world. I’m not talking about an “organized” church program, or a rigid, regimented time of Bible reading and prayer. I am talking about a moment to moment relationship with God. He is real…he is with us…we are not alone.
Good for you…you finished Day 4. As I drift off to sleep tonight, I am going to talk to God…like I would talk to my most intimate, most trustworthy friend. He is that…and so much more.
Day 5… Have you ever been to an oasis? Today we will visit En Gedi and I hope you leave refreshed. Try to find a few quit moments today to reflect on this verse.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2
We don’t have to look very hard to find the wilderness today. We live in a world that believes very differently than we do. Don’t believe me? Just turn on the TV. Sometimes I get really tired while trying to live a life of service to people who don’t always return my love. Do you? Sometimes God asks us to do something or to face a fear that feels so big we are just ready to shut down. Sometimes people really persecute us for doing the right thing.
Have you ever felt like you just can’t go on step further? Have you ever given yourself until there seems to be nothing left? I have. Sometimes I feel so empty and so alone…just plain exhausted. We need our strength renewed…we need to enjoy God’s living water. We need En Gedi, the beautiful spring fed waterfall near the Dead Sea. We need its oasis in the wilderness.
Take a minute and click on the link for En Gedi. http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1544 Have you ever seen such a beautiful waterfall? Its living water is right there by the Dead Sea. Can you imagine what it would feel like to wander through the parched, barren wilderness and stumble upon this spring? Talk about refreshing!
We are all refreshed differently. Visiting En Gedi for some of us is sinking into God’s Word, or talking to the LORD through prayer. For others it is fellowship with true, genuine believers. En Gedi for others can be a walk through a beautiful forest, or beach, or even canoeing on one of God’s rivers. Sometimes our En Gedi can be as simple as a fragrant bubble bath and the dim glowing light of flickering candles.
It is at En Gedi that we drink God’s “Living Water". As followers of Jesus, we have got to take time for activities that fill us up…that refresh us. If we don’t… we set ourselves up for burnout.
Are you tired and weary
When was the last time you visited En Gedi?
Isaiah 35 tells about the joy that those who follow God will find in Him. Let’s listen to some of the words.
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance, with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way, wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:3-10
What will the burning sand become?
What will the Highway be called?
Who will walk on the Highway?
Will there be lions there?
What will be on their heads?
What will sorrow and sighing do?
Doesn’t it sound like a wonderful place…that oasis in the wilderness!
Meet God there…He is waiting for you.
Good for you…you have finished Day 5. When you are weary and afraid…God will provide for you. He will lead you to an En Gedi…and he will refresh your soul.
Day 6…Sometimes people cannot get to En Gedi because they are imprisoned in a cistern. Try to find some quiet time today and reflect on these verses.
“…you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:11-12
Did you know that they are out there everywhere? Thirsty people in a thirsty world. People trying to find a refreshing drink…one that will take away their thirst. They look for it in so many places. They look for it in drugs, sex, darkness, shopping, money, alcohol, work, in the approval of others…sometimes they even look for it by keeping busy with church jobs…the list could just go on and on.
This Isaiah chapter 58 is powerful. It truly tells us our mission as followers of Jesus. Let’s walk through its words together.
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. (It is easy to keep quiet and not “rock the boat” )
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted’, they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? (Do you know someone who is really good at placing blame…and it is never on them. Sometimes they even put on a “golly, gee, whiz, I’m really humble and broken” front. Do they twist things around to make their way “right” but in your heart of heart you know that they are mistreating others?)
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (Do you know someone that is being treated unjustly? God has called you to smash some things…like chains and cords and yokes!)
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Do you know someone who desperately needs provisions…what about your own family…do any of them need you to fight for them?)
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer, you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. ( Do you know anyone that has a finger pointed at them…do you know anyone being oppressed…FIGHT FOR THEM…FREE THEM…don’t just stand around and act like what you think a Christian acts like…act like your Savior…rebuke the oppressor…and FIGHT FOR THEM)
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.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:1-12 (things don’t have to stay the way they are…they can be restored and rebuilt…even if the rubble is really old. But before anything can be rebuilt…chains have to be broken…and prisoners have to be freed…sometimes the first prisoner that needs to be freed is you.)
This is what giving ourselves to others in God’s service is all about. We are Repairers of Broken Walls…we free people whose walls are crumbling and whose gates have been burned. Sometimes we ourselves, have to be freed first! This is true Christianity. It’s not “church programs”… it’s not keeping the “status quo”…it is a “bust it up” kind of ministry…it is not meek and quiet and serene. It is hard, and uncomfortable, and scary, and misunderstood. As a matter of fact…it is the very image that Jesus used to “formally announce” his ministry to the world.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1
May God help us all as we bring freedom to the oppressed and as we confront the oppressor…in the precious name of Jesus. It is then that we become like a spring whose waters never fail.
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
Good for you…You finished Day 6. The next time I pour a cup of cold water I am going to think of Him and find a prisoner to give it to.
“…and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain…” Revelation 21:4
Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in…your nose pressed against the window while the party inside goes on without you…alone…outcast…misfit…rejected. What a horrible way to feel.
The Samaritan woman didn’t go to the well when everyone else did. She went in the middle of the day…when it was hot…when no one else would be there. She went when she wouldn’t have to hear anyone talking about her…she went when her face wouldn’t have to turn red from shame. She went when she would be alone.
What did she think about while she was there getting her water? Did she think about what a mess her life was in…married 5 times…and now living with a guy she wasn’t even married to? Did she wish she could just start all over again? In the middle of her shame did she have any hope left at all?
And then there were all those love stories that she had grown up hearing… it seemed they all happened at a well. She could tell you the stories in her sleep…man on a journey meets girl at well… girl rushes home to tell everyone what happened… man meets girl’s parents…man and girl engaged. A well might have helped Zipporah and Moses, Isaac and Rebekah, and Rachel and Jacob find each other…but all she had ever found at a well was loneliness.
One day everything changed…she got to the well and He was there. He was tired from His journey and He asked her for a drink. He actually talked to her! He offered her “Living Water” and told her she would never be thirsty again. How she wanted that water.
She learned that He knew everything about her…all the broken relationships in her past. He even knew about the guy she was living with. It was if He had been there waiting just for her. Before long, she knew Jesus wasn’t like all the other men in her life...He was different. She asked Him if He was the Messiah (the Christ) and the answer was yes! She dropped her water jar and rushed back home to tell everyone what had happened. For two days, Jesus met with her people… and many of her people found Jesus as their Savior.
Do you know that in the Bible, Jesus calls himself the “bridegroom”? And do you know that the Bible calls followers of Jesus, his “bride”? Are you starting to see the picture? She went to the well an outcast…while there, she met The Bridegroom. He spent time with her people and when He left she was the “bride to be” of the Prince of Peace.
One day Jesus is returning for His “bride”. If you haven’t met the bridegroom He’s waiting for you right by the well. He will take away your shame. He will give you Living Water. He will change your life…and one day He will wipe every tear from your eyes.
Good for you…You finished Day 1. As I drift off to sleep tonight, I am going to think about how God knows my name and my thoughts and my tears. I am going to remember the day He was sitting right there by the well…waiting for me.
Day 2… Okay, pretend you are on a trip in the wilderness and you are really weary… and hot… and thirsty…and dry…and thirsty… and hot… and did I mention thirsty? You have walked for miles and it seems you don’t have one tiny bit of strength left. Then you see it…up ahead…tiny bits of green poking up between the rocks. Is it a dream…is it a mirage…could it be…an oasis? It is!!!! It is!!! It is an oasis. Congratulations…you just found the “Living Water”. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“For the Lord your God is brining you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills” Deuteronomy 8:7
If you were to go to a restaurant today there is a question I am pretty sure you won’t be asked, “What can I get for you folks this evening, Living Water or Dead Water?” I think if I was ever given that choice I would leave pretty quickly. But in Jesus' time, people knew exactly what Living Water was. Living Water was water from natural springs or fountains. It was free-flowing, always new, refreshing and cool. You didn’t have to dig a well and draw up the water to drink. The water was right there, bubbling out of the rock like a miracle.
As God’s people were being led like sheep, on their wilderness journey to the “Promised Land” they had to trust God for everything! He led them with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. He fed them manna from Heaven. He provided water for them. Let’s look up Deuteronomy 8:15.
He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. Dt 8:15
What did God lead them through?
What did God bring out of the rock for them?
Isaiah 41:18, 20 says this…
I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs (vs 18).
…so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. (vs20)
God was letting everyone know that these special water fountains…these “Living Water” fountains were proof of His existence and His provision for His people.
Jesus understood all about people that were thirsty. They didn’t live in the wilderness…their lives were the wilderness. That is why He offered the woman at the well “Living Water”. He offered the one thing that would help her to never be thirsty again…He offered her Himself. He offered her salvation for her sins…he offered her a hope and a future. He offered her a fresh start.
If you need a fresh start He is still there. The fountain of “Living Water” still flows. It has never run dry. If you know someone who needs a fresh start, begin to pray today that they will find the fountain.
Good for you…you finished Day 2. The next time I see a beautiful fountain, I am going to stop for a few minutes and thank God for His “Living Water”.
Day 3… Nasty tasting fish-flavored water...ever had it? I sure hope not! Every time the lake turns over the water at my house tastes like nasty, stinky fish. One day I had enough of the fish water. I called the water people and within a week, fresh spring water was delivered to my door in beautiful 5-gallon jugs. Ahhhh! Fresh spring water…as long as I have enough money I will never have to drink stinky fish water again. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13
God’s people had finally made it to the Promised Land. They had left the wilderness behind and now entered into a beautiful land full of springs and fountains. However, there was a problem. Although God was giving them the land…there were battles to fight. God wanted them to trust him and to enter the land as his people…his holy people.
God’s people thought of God as their shepherd… their wilderness God. He had led them through the desert…but now they were in farm country. The people in this land worshiped a different god…a farm god…the false god of fertile ground. Worshiping the false god was about as far from holy as a person could get.
The people of Canaan thought that their false god Baal went down to Hades every winter and they wanted him to come back in the spring and bring rain for their crops. So the people would gather at their local high place that was dedicated to Baal and his mistress/mother Asherah. They would engage in immoral sex hoping to persuade Baal to have sex with Asherah and as these false gods had sex, they believed rain would fall. Sometimes people would even take their first born children and place them on an altar of fire so that the children could be burned alive and make the false god happy. This false fertility religion was sick, cruel, and perverted. This religion was the driving force of the land of Canaan.
Our scripture today talks about people forsaking springs of living water for cisterns. What was a cistern? A cistern was a very large cave like, bottle shaped pit carved out of the ground to hold rainwater. The water was collected from rain runoff. As the water ran off the roofs, down the filthy streets and into these pits we can only imagine how dirty it was. Sometimes it would even have dead animals floating in it. At its very best cistern water was stale, dirty, and old. Compared to bubbly clean spring water…living water…we can easily call cistern water…dead water. And the Israelites chose this dead water instead of God’s living water. What does that mean? It means that God’s people began to worship the false fertility god Baal.
The thought of that makes me so incredibly sad…but it is also something that I don’t want to ever forget. God has given us all a job to do…just like the Israelites were to have undivided hearts for God as they entered the land of Canaan, we are to have undivided hearts for God as we reach out to a sinful rebellious world. When temptation comes our way, we are to resist it and stay devoted to God. Cisterns were also called pits and they were used sometimes as temporary prisons. When we give in to the temptation of sin, we put ourselves into those prisons.
I would like for you to read Psalm 40…It’s a beautiful psalm about being lifted out of a pit. It talks about being put on firm ground, and the wonders of God’s plans for us. It talks about the new song God gives us. As we get to know God through His word and we are changed and filled with God’s Holy Spirit we will be able to turn away from temptation and keep our heart undivided for the One True God.
Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David, A psalm.
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offering and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come – it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do you will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “The LORD be exalted!”
Yet I am poor and needy; may the LORD think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Good for you…you finished Day 3. As I drift off to sleep tonight...I am going to think of this scripture, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” Isaiah 55:1 And I am going to thank God that whether I have money or not…His water is always free.
Day 4… I just love to go fishing! There is just something so calm and soothing about being on the water. Today we are going to go on a little fishing trip. Grab your pole and climb on board. Try to find a few quiet moments today to reflect on this verse.
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38
On my daddy’s boat we had something called a fishfinder. It was like a little radar that would help us peak under the water to find the fish. It was a helpful little machine. OK…are you all ready to fish?
Let’s turn on our fishfinder...do you see anything yet? Nope…me either. Hold on a second while I make a quick call and see if I can find out what’s the matter with this thing. “What…you mean the machine isn’t broken…we’re on the what…the Dead Sea…you’re kidding…no fish in the sea at all…well I never…sea too salty…nothing can live in it…you don’t say…no wonder I got such a good deal on this little fishfindin’ machine.”
We could have the fanciest fishfindin’ machine in the world and it wouldn’t do us any good at all if we were fishing on the Dead Sea. Why…you might ask? Because you can’t catch something that isn’t there. There isn’t a single fish living in the Dead Sea…no not one…hard to believe isn’t it. Nothing can survive in its super salty water.
The Dead Sea is such a beautiful body of water. It’s about 50 miles long and about 10 miles wide…but it is just so salty. I’m sure you know how salty ocean water is…well the Dead Sea is five times saltier. How did it get so dead and salty you might wonder…well it’s really pretty simple. Water flows into the lake but it doesn’t flow out.
You might also wonder what in the world the Dead Sea has to do with our lesson this week. It’s simple...we don’t want to be like the Dead Sea. We don’t want to take in all the good fresh “Living Water” and just keep it all to ourselves. We have to let it flow out of us to others. Let’s look at a scripture together…look at the beginning of Isaiah 41:17.
The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
Who is searching for water?
Is there any water to find?
What is parched with thirst?
This is what we have been called to do...be filled with God’s “Living Water.” As we spend time… intimate fellowship time, with God our Father, the natural result is that his living water flows out of us to a thirsty world. I’m not talking about an “organized” church program, or a rigid, regimented time of Bible reading and prayer. I am talking about a moment to moment relationship with God. He is real…he is with us…we are not alone.
Good for you…you finished Day 4. As I drift off to sleep tonight, I am going to talk to God…like I would talk to my most intimate, most trustworthy friend. He is that…and so much more.
Day 5… Have you ever been to an oasis? Today we will visit En Gedi and I hope you leave refreshed. Try to find a few quit moments today to reflect on this verse.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2
We don’t have to look very hard to find the wilderness today. We live in a world that believes very differently than we do. Don’t believe me? Just turn on the TV. Sometimes I get really tired while trying to live a life of service to people who don’t always return my love. Do you? Sometimes God asks us to do something or to face a fear that feels so big we are just ready to shut down. Sometimes people really persecute us for doing the right thing.
Have you ever felt like you just can’t go on step further? Have you ever given yourself until there seems to be nothing left? I have. Sometimes I feel so empty and so alone…just plain exhausted. We need our strength renewed…we need to enjoy God’s living water. We need En Gedi, the beautiful spring fed waterfall near the Dead Sea. We need its oasis in the wilderness.
Take a minute and click on the link for En Gedi. http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1544 Have you ever seen such a beautiful waterfall? Its living water is right there by the Dead Sea. Can you imagine what it would feel like to wander through the parched, barren wilderness and stumble upon this spring? Talk about refreshing!
We are all refreshed differently. Visiting En Gedi for some of us is sinking into God’s Word, or talking to the LORD through prayer. For others it is fellowship with true, genuine believers. En Gedi for others can be a walk through a beautiful forest, or beach, or even canoeing on one of God’s rivers. Sometimes our En Gedi can be as simple as a fragrant bubble bath and the dim glowing light of flickering candles.
It is at En Gedi that we drink God’s “Living Water". As followers of Jesus, we have got to take time for activities that fill us up…that refresh us. If we don’t… we set ourselves up for burnout.
Are you tired and weary
When was the last time you visited En Gedi?
Isaiah 35 tells about the joy that those who follow God will find in Him. Let’s listen to some of the words.
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance, with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way, wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:3-10
What will the burning sand become?
What will the Highway be called?
Who will walk on the Highway?
Will there be lions there?
What will be on their heads?
What will sorrow and sighing do?
Doesn’t it sound like a wonderful place…that oasis in the wilderness!
Meet God there…He is waiting for you.
Good for you…you have finished Day 5. When you are weary and afraid…God will provide for you. He will lead you to an En Gedi…and he will refresh your soul.
Day 6…Sometimes people cannot get to En Gedi because they are imprisoned in a cistern. Try to find some quiet time today and reflect on these verses.
“…you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:11-12
Did you know that they are out there everywhere? Thirsty people in a thirsty world. People trying to find a refreshing drink…one that will take away their thirst. They look for it in so many places. They look for it in drugs, sex, darkness, shopping, money, alcohol, work, in the approval of others…sometimes they even look for it by keeping busy with church jobs…the list could just go on and on.
This Isaiah chapter 58 is powerful. It truly tells us our mission as followers of Jesus. Let’s walk through its words together.
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. (It is easy to keep quiet and not “rock the boat” )
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted’, they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? (Do you know someone who is really good at placing blame…and it is never on them. Sometimes they even put on a “golly, gee, whiz, I’m really humble and broken” front. Do they twist things around to make their way “right” but in your heart of heart you know that they are mistreating others?)
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (Do you know someone that is being treated unjustly? God has called you to smash some things…like chains and cords and yokes!)
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Do you know someone who desperately needs provisions…what about your own family…do any of them need you to fight for them?)
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer, you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. ( Do you know anyone that has a finger pointed at them…do you know anyone being oppressed…FIGHT FOR THEM…FREE THEM…don’t just stand around and act like what you think a Christian acts like…act like your Savior…rebuke the oppressor…and FIGHT FOR THEM)
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.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:1-12 (things don’t have to stay the way they are…they can be restored and rebuilt…even if the rubble is really old. But before anything can be rebuilt…chains have to be broken…and prisoners have to be freed…sometimes the first prisoner that needs to be freed is you.)
This is what giving ourselves to others in God’s service is all about. We are Repairers of Broken Walls…we free people whose walls are crumbling and whose gates have been burned. Sometimes we ourselves, have to be freed first! This is true Christianity. It’s not “church programs”… it’s not keeping the “status quo”…it is a “bust it up” kind of ministry…it is not meek and quiet and serene. It is hard, and uncomfortable, and scary, and misunderstood. As a matter of fact…it is the very image that Jesus used to “formally announce” his ministry to the world.
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1
May God help us all as we bring freedom to the oppressed and as we confront the oppressor…in the precious name of Jesus. It is then that we become like a spring whose waters never fail.
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
Good for you…You finished Day 6. The next time I pour a cup of cold water I am going to think of Him and find a prisoner to give it to.
Never forget...you are Sought After,
Until next time,
Cynthia
Links for those who want to dig a little deeper
En Gedi - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1544
Water in the Wilderness - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1544
Living Water - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2079
Dead Water - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2080
God as Our Oasis - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2081
No Substitutes - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2082
Living in a Thirsty World - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2083
Faith Lesson - Living Water http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1459
Page 1: Woman at the Well http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2169
Water in the Wilderness - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1544
Living Water - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2079
Dead Water - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2080
God as Our Oasis - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2081
No Substitutes - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2082
Living in a Thirsty World - http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2083
Faith Lesson - Living Water http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1459
Page 1: Woman at the Well http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2169
Page 6: Living Water http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2174
Living Water - Jesus and the Feast of Sukkot http://community.gospelcom.net/Brix?pageID=2797
Living Water - Jesus and the Feast of Sukkot http://community.gospelcom.net/Brix?pageID=2797
