Water out, sonny. Never leave a waterin’ place without you take on a-plenty.”
–Elmer Kelton (Stand Proud)
“O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.”
–Psalm 63:1 (NKJV)
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“Thou has the key of the rain; the river is Thine, and it is full of water; every drop Thou dost count, every shower Thou alone dost give…. For this thirst [after righteousness] we pray; the keener thirst, the inner thirst: the Lord hears us when we ask that we may be satisfied out of the river that flows by His own throne.”
–Joseph Parker
Remember the times that you used to splash as a kid in the puddles after a rain? Can you recall ever eating snow or sucking on icicles? Remember, just last week I wrote about the heavy thirst, the need for water, and then there was an oasis? No, not the floods that we have seen in recent days and years, but a steady supply of life-giving water.
You were desperate for a drink. Forget the seltzers, sodas, the ice coffee and cinos and lattes. Forget asking the waitress for lemon in your tea. Right then, in the heat of the day, when you were desperate all you wanted was a sip of cool water. You didn’t quit; you crawled over the hill until you reached the oasis. The desert wasteland had been merciless, but then you found water. Ahh, that refreshing life-giving, life-sustaining water.
Ahhh, that wonderful feeling when you fell into the water at the oasis. It wasn’t a mirage. Your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you; it was not another illusion. Water. It was pure, clear water. You drank your fill, you bathed in it, soaking yourself. Remember the feeling when you poured it over your head, when you splashed in it with your feet, when you rolled in it–life-saving, life-giving water? Think of that wonderful experience with the Lord when He refreshed your soul with the water that flows from Him. Gone were the mirages promised by pseudo-ideologies. Now, you have tasted of the soul-quenching water from the Lord Himself.
Why is it that we do not fill the soul with eternal water? Why do some look at the supply, but turn to something else? Life stems in the desert from an oasis, yet we let the soul become depleted and dehydrated. We plod on the spiritual trek and never truly seek the oasis, the wells that have been provided. They are out there in the wasteland of life, but we must seek them. Sometimes there are tanks in the rocks, sometimes a pool, sometimes it takes a miracle of striking the Rock to get the water, but know this–it is there. We must seek the Source of the true, pure, clear, cool water and never let our spirits thirst again.
The oasis experience, never forget them. It is important to remember the times in our lives when the Holy Spirit came to us in that special way. Those times when He so overwhelmed us that we bathed in His presence; when we drank deeply from His deep wells. Remember those times at the oasis of life, then continue on the journey through the wilderness. Do not substitute the water of the world for the true water that flows from Christ. Do not indulge in stagnant water from a poisoned pond that promises relief for your thirst but in reality will bring death. Refresh yourself in the goodness of the Lord.
“How sweet the living water from the hills of God,
It makes me glad and happy all the way;
Now glory grace and blessing mark the path I’ve trod,
I’m shouting ‘Hallelujah’ ev’ry day.
Drinking at the springs of living water,
Happy now am I, My soul they satisfy;
Drinking at the springs of living water,
O wonderful and bountiful supply.”
–John W. Peterson