Annie
Scripture: Psalm 84 John 7:37-39 Ezekiel 47:1-12 Isaiah 43:19
Revelation 21:6; 22:1-2
Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
My Mam, my dear mother, was so fond of her “sayings”, most of which I now realise originated in her faith in God’s Word. One of her favourites was “Hope springs eternal”, she was most definitely a glass half full person, no matter what, she always placed her Hope in God’s guiding Hand. As I was thinking about one of my favourite Psalms, Psalm 84, God opened my heart to a new understanding of that old saying. The springs of water that are in even the darkest valley, are springs of Hope to refresh and strengthen us as we keep on walking through these valleys. The wells that, often, we need to dig deeply into, are indeed springs of Living Water, our Living Hope in the One who has promised to go before us, and walk with us through our valleys of weeping.
Significantly, it was on the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which is celebrated at harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere, that Jesus declared in a loud voice that anyone who was thirsty needed to come to Him and drink. During this time when the people came together to celebrate and give thanks for God’s provision and sustaining protection, He told them that if they did drink from Him, then from their hearts would flow rivers of Living Water. He had spent His time at the Feast teaching anyone who would listen, many believed and followed Him, but the religious hierarchy angrily rejected everything He said, and tried to kill Him. Jesus was offering them all the Hope and provision they needed to continue on their pilgrimage to their eternal home. He was the springs of Living Water in the valley of Baca that they were travelling through under the heel of the Roman Empire. He still is our spring of Living Water as we travel through our valley of Baca, our only steadfast Hope and provision for this journey to Zion. The promise is still real and alive now, when we drink from Him, His Living Water will flow from our hearts to give Hope to this broken world that seems to have made its home in the valley of weeping instead of passing through. He is the only Hope there is.
At the end of the Book of Revelation, we are given a wondrous picture of the New Jerusalem. John heard the Voice from the One on the throne declaring that anyone who was thirsty could come to Him and freely drink and receive the Water of Life. He saw the River of Life that flowed through the city nourishing and producing abundant Life wherever it went. This is our Hope, our cherished, precious promise of everlasting, abundant Life freely and gloriously given to us. This is the Hope that Jesus went to the cross to pay for, He laid down His life as the perfect assurance that we could live forever in Him. He was glorified through this awful death and then His amazing resurrection, so that Holy Spirit could then come and live in us, bringing Christ’s refreshing Living Water, being our Guide, our Comforter, our Teacher.
We live on a small farm and this spring we have had so much rain, it’s been relentless, and we are truly grateful for it. We remember this time last year, with the whole summer ahead of us, when our paddocks were worryingly so dry and we already had to irrigate from our well so that our cattle had grass to eat. God shows us in the world He created, how vital pure, fresh water is for any life to be sustained. We need the Hope that we will be refreshed and sustained by His Living Water as we wander through the deserts and the dark valleys of weeping. Christ is indeed our only Hope in life and death, our precious, loving Hope, our Fount of Living Water.
Prayer: Abba Father, As we drink deeply of You, may we allow Your Life to flow through us for the world to see. May we share in bringing You, the Hope of nations, to all who are thirsty, we pray this in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the power of Holy Spirit Amen.
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