The Wells have Run Dry

Many Americans who rely on wells for water are coming up dry after months of record-breaking heat and drought. It’s not unusual for rural wells to stop producing toward the end of a hot summer, but this year, wells are drying up early. When this happens well-owners must dig deeper. The prophet Jeremaih likens wells (or cisterns) to self effort. “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain (Spring) of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water” (Jer 2:13).

A well takes a lot of work—both to dig and to draw water, whereas a spring is a natural outflow of refreshing ground water. A well can dry up, but springs keep on going! Spring water comes from deeper within the earth than well water; and Spring water is full of minerals.

This year’s drought and dry wells might serve to remind us of Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “all who drink of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty again. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up continually within him into eternal life” (John 4:13, 14). Trying to find satisfaction through the work of our hands (digging our own wells) will never quench our desire for life. Only Jesus can do that.