As I write these words, I see the blessing of rainfall. The trees are swaying in the breeze and the umbrellas people are carrying are flipping inside out. This isn’t a shower of just a few raindrops—it’s raining cats and dogs. And it’s the answer to our prayers.
We’ve had no rain for three months. In the area where I live, we aren’t used to drought. But for some time now the water has been rationed and this was a punishment for people who usually enjoy this commodity in abundance.
Looking now at the wind and water, I think of the parts of the world where droughts are common and people experience these terrible conditions as a way of life. The Horn of Africa, one of the poorest regions in the world, has endured the ravages of one of the worst droughts in recent years. And the saddest part is that children are the ones who suffer the most.
Will earth continue to be wretched with such a terrible heat? Amid the harsh drought, the contaminated water sources and the spreading of deserts, people will trigger, not a territorial or ideological war, but rather one involving water. And in time, nations with water will become powerful. All because of one reason—thirst.
Water of Life
In the fourth chapter of the Bible’s book of John we read about Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well near Sychar. She’d gone to the well in search of water that would quench her physical thirst.
However, Jesus told her that the water He offered would fill her far beyond her expectations. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,” He said, “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (verses 13, 14).
What Jesus is offering isn’t ordinary water. It’s the Water of Life. It’s a source that becomes a blessing. It’s a spiritual fluid that changes human hearts. As water cools the body and plays a multitude of vital functions, so Jesus, the Water of Life, sustains hope and faith in the mind of every human being, offering us the possibility of escaping death and spending an eternity with Him.
All around the world, unsatisfied men and women are trying to quench the thirst they have in their souls. Like the Samaritan woman, they long for something better. As the Samaritan woman talked with Jesus, as she listened to His words, a calm and wonderful faith began to grow in her heart.
She found in Jesus what she needed to face her everyday challenges. Considered an outcast because of her life choices and circumstances, her hopes for improving her situation were slim. However, her story teaches us that God values us enough to actively seek us no matter where we are or what we’ve done. God finds you and me worthy of His great, awesome love.
God hasn’t forgotten us humans. He’s looking for us, offering us satisfaction, fulfilment and ultimately, salvation. Humanity, like a plant in the midst of a spiritual desert, is dried and burnt, but like the woman at the well, we all have the option of drinking the Water of Life and experiencing the joy of salvation.
Jesus had promised the woman deep satisfaction from the Water of Life and she asked Him a very important question: “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” (verse 11).
A Holy Water Fountain
Only in the Bible can we find the water that quenches the thirst that leads many to emotional despair. There’s no other place. The Bible contains a river of living water that doesn’t dry up and that will never be affected by pollution.
What will happen to the water in the world? How many more droughts does our planet have to face? Will the human race witness a cruel war over water? Humans can no longer bear so much suffering. The earth itself cries for deliverance. These issues have not escaped divine notice, but they are signs of the times, signs telling us that Jesus will return soon and that humanity’s redemption is near.
We may have been given a death sentence thousands of years ago when our first parents chose to disobey God, but God offers the promise of salvation. Jesus knowingly and intentionally took upon Himself the consequences of our disobedience. His death on the cross of Calvary gave us the opportunity to drink from God’s holy water fountain, to be forgiven of our sinful choices, that we might experience eternal life and a relationship with God again. That is the depth and extent of His love for us, demonstrated in the energy He puts into seeking us in order that we might be saved, not lost.
So today, when you refresh your body by drinking a glass of water, why not open the Bible and drink from Christ, the unpolluted Source of spiritual water?
Saved by Grace
We were created for something better. When He created the world, “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:24). Then He created humans and gave us the world and all that was in it to enjoy. We were designed for perfection. Sin marred all of that, but we continue to thirst for a better world—and to restore our broken relationship with God.
God has promised we will one day return to perfection and live in harmony with Him: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
We don’t have to do anything to receive this gift; we simply need to sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions and exercise faith in Jesus as Lord and Christ, as Substitute and Example. This faith that receives salvation is a gift of God’s grace.
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