Where do you get your water?

by Jon M. Davis

Water is life. Plain and simple. Without water we will die. A few days ago I wrote about the desert. Let me be clear that the desert is not always an awful place. In fact, it is often the place that we are refined and brought back to God. It is a place where we either recognize our dependence on God or we die in our sin and stubbornness. But in the desert, water is not easy to find.

Where do you get your water? Ever really thought about that much? You wake up turn on the faucet, make some coffee, take a really long shower, leaver it running when you brush your teeth, etc, etc, etc… Water is never really valuable until you do not have any. Every time I return from an international trip, I am always asked about the water.
        “Can you drink it? Did it make you sick? Did they have bottled water?”
Now suddenly water is important. The real question people are asking is “where do you get your water?”

Biblically there are two types of water. One is cistern water. This is water that is gathered from run off from rains and streams when it floods, which is stored in a man made chamber. It is usually a stone walled quarry that is plastered and covered. The water sits in this large pool and often becomes stagnant, which often caused the spread of disease. The bible is clear on several occasions about man made cisterns often break. This is a clear picture that man cannot try to survive on his own. This water is unreliable. What happens if it doesn’t rain? Where do you get your water?

However, the other type mentioned is “living water.” This is water from God. It is usually found in springs and flows from a source within the earth. This was the only place that water could be taken from for ceremonial purposes like cleansing. Also, this water was reliable if you knew where to find it. This is water from God. Throughout the Bible, many references were made to living water. Jeremiah 2:13 discusses man’s decision to reject the living water that God provides. But the best example was Jesus at the synagogue at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7. This Feast commemorates the 40 years of wondering in the wilderness. This is definitely a place that the Israelites needed to find water. As the people cried out for living water and the crowds were chanting and screaming, Jesus stood up and boldly said- “I am living water!”

Jesus stepped out of the crowd and said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”(John 7:37 NIV)  As you might imagine, this made a lot of people unhappy. They knew what it was to have fresh water. Living water was no laughing matter. They were celebrating having survived the desert for 40 years! They knew where to find water! They knew what living water was as well-both spiritually and physically. But because of their anger they chose to drink from the broken cisterns instead of choosing Jesus.

But Jesus was starting his ministry to explain that he was more important than physical water. He provided life for all of eternity. He is not a man made cistern and he will never stagnate. He is God. He is the creator of all things.  So again I ask, where do you get your water? Once you find it, do you want just a little bit, or do you want to swim in it and take everyone you know to the source of living water?