Water Is Life
“…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 will become in him a spring of water welling up to everlasting life.” (John 4:13)
One of life’s pleasures to me is the drive back and forth to work everyday through the farm lands of North Louisiana. I suppose it takes little to fascinate me, but the things the farmers do really appeals to my curiosity.
For the past few weeks it has become dry in the northern part of the state. The farmers have begun their annual task of irrigation. Irrigation is an old practice. There was a time when slaves were used to physically dig canals to bring water from the rivers to the fields and sometimes even haul it in buckets. Over the years, pumps of all kinds and configurations have been developed for the same purpose.
Only a few years ago the farmers would begin the long and laborious process of laying out long sections of pipe across one end of the field. Water was pumped into these pipes, outlets formed and crops watered. Some built elaborate sprinkler systems that go in circles covering hundreds of square feet per hour. They knew that however it was done, the crops needed water.
Now there is something different. There is a long plastic sleeve with holes in it spaced evenly apart. If they don’t want water coming from portions of it, they simply place a shovel full of dirt on top of the hole. It is not uncommon to drive for miles and watch these streams of water gently cascading into the cotton rows. The crops need the water.
When Jesus talked to the woman at the well in Samaria, he saw a parched, thirsty, shriveling soul in need of spiritual irrigation. She had her law and she participated in her rituals, but her life was as dry as the sere fields. Every fiber in her being was struggling for the water of life. I doubt that we are much different from the woman at the well. If Jesus were to take a curb-side seat with us, do you think he would offer us a drink of “living water?”
God made a promise in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” God created us. He knows us. He knows when we need a drink to refresh our souls and He provides.
Just last week I looked out across my pasture and saw the long spindly grass beginning to concede to its dry opponent. The blades were warped and twisted. The tips of the grass had begun to change from the rich, luscious, lively green to a dingy, lifeless brown. Soon, so very soon, life would be wrestled away from the once lively, beautiful covering and it would wither away into nothingness.
But… all of a sudden, as if heaven heard its desolate cry, clouds covered the skies and life-giving waters poured forth. Three-tenths of an inch… not much in the rain gauge, but plenty to give hope to the dying. Today there is even more rain. What a blessing! The pastures have returned to life. The dust of death is settling and life will go on.
Perhaps you and I need to drink deeply of the water of life. You and I need so much and will accept so little. The farmer wasn’t put out by the need to lay a few pipes or dig a few canals. Are we so weak that we cannot pick up a cup and in loving prayer say to God, “Fill – er – Up?”