Have you ever lived in a place that ran out of safe, drinkable, usable water?
When we moved to our first pastorate in Kentucky, we were told that the water supply came from a limestone cave underground. We were also told no one knew how much water was in it, but that it was good water, although it did leave a white scale on the dishes after a while of being washed in it.
One morning we woke up to find announcements being made: Don’t drink the water! Don’t use the water to wash dishes! Don’t use the water to make baby formula! Don’t wash your clothes in the water! Don’t take a bath in the water!
The water in the cave had been used down to the bottom layers which contained benzene, a contaminant leaked from gasoline stations and other local sources. It was unusable.
The National Guard came in big trucks to bring water to residents. The town began an expensive project to find another water source which required blasting through the rock layers and putting in pipes to carry healthy water to everyone from a new source.
With three children, two being toddlers, this was a family emergency for us as well as many other people.
Where we live now has great water, and I’m thankful.
The Bible contains parables and illustrations using water. Just as we have to have water to live, we have to have a continual source of clean, pure, spiritual “water” from Jesus Christ for salvation and for living life.
Jesus spoke of “living water.” In John 7:37-39 Jesus says: ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, who those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, they got into a discussion of water. He told her in John 4:13-15: “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come her to draw water.’ “.
Isaiah 12:3 tells us: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
Have you come to Jesus to ask Him to give you living water? Have you repented of your sins and confessed Jesus as the only son of God who died on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins? Do you believe He rose on the third day and ascended into heaven? Are you trusting in Him for salvation with faith?
The Samaritan woman realized who Jesus really was and believed in Him. She went on to tell others about Him. They, too, found the living water.
