Friday, January 21, 2011

Don't Drink the Water

Two million children a year die for lack of clean water. After a disaster, like a flood in Bangladesh or the earthquake in Haiti, it is common for people to get sick or die from water & sanitation-related diseases like diarrhea & cholera. But finding fresh, clean water has been a problem throughout history.

That significance should not be lost on us in Psalm 23 where David pictures a shepherd leading his sheep to “still waters.” He must do so because 1) sheep will not drink from a moving stream, and 2) if not moved daily, they will continue to drink long after the water has been contaminated by mud and parasites, and their own waste. And they will die.

Jesus promises to satisfy our need for clean water, from a well of living water springing up from inside of us
(John 4:14). Where do we find this well? And how do we draw from it? Through our daily quiet time—a quiet and still place with the Lord where we are refreshed by 'drinking in' his Word.


Trying to live in a state of continual fellowship with God without a dedicated time and place to fellowship with Him will not work (Amos 3:3). How quenching it is to the Lord when we ignore our time with Him but drink from the world’s watering holes. But all the time, our Shepherd is trying to lead us to the clean, cleansing water of His Word (Jer. 31:9; John 15:3; Eph. 5:26.) How sad that there are Christians (like water-deprived ‘third-worlders’) who don’t realize they’re drinking fouled waters. The result is deadly.

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