The Fount of Living Water
Perhaps you’ve heard the quip, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. But you can put salt in its oats and make it thirsty!”
Interestingly, those words pack a spiritual punch!
As I ponder that quip in light of our testimony for Jesus, my mind thinks about the living water we share with people, Jesus and His glorious gospel, and our hearts desire that they would actually taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)!
When Jesus ministers to the Samaritan woman at a well in John 4, He offers her living water:
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
What is the gift of God? It is the gift of life, which comes in the form of living water. In the Old Testament living water was a common designation for water that flowed from springs, in contrast to the stagnant water taken from a cistern (Jeremiah 2:13). Here Jesus is speaking about the spiritual, not the physical. On a spiritual level, Jewish people often spoke of the thirst of the soul for God and the quenching of that thirst with living water. The psalmist spoke of his soul being thirsty for the living God (Psalm 42:1). God promised spiritual provision in Isaiah 55:1, summoning the thirsty to freely drink of His provision. God also promised that His people would draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3).
When a person partakes in the living water through faith in Jesus, they are reconciled to God and have the ability to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).
How do we share this living water with people? By demonstrating God’s love tangibly through our actions, by proclaiming truth in our words and by expressing the fruit of the Spirit – which manifests in our words, deeds and in our countenance.
As His witnesses, it would be wonderful if people would respond to our sharing with, “Hey, I want what you have”, (namely the living water – the Lord Himself),” but that isn’t always the case.
In fact, sometimes I get discouraged by how few lost people in my sphere of influence seem to be thirsty for God. I need to be reminded that while I’m responsible for sharing the living water with people, it is the Holy Spirit who puts the proverbial salt in the oats. You see, through our witness, the Lord produces a spiritual thirst in people. For God is the author of salvation (Hebrews 5:9).
As Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
Therefore, keep seeking the living water, keep sharing the living water and keep praying for those we know and love – those who haven’t yet tasted and seen that the Lord is good – to partake of the living water by putting their faith in Jesus. Amen.