FROM THIRST TO LIVING WATERS

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38)

In the verses above, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus announces the source of true satisfaction for spiritual thirst. The crowd around Him are like the woman of Samaria who was standing by the side of the true well of living water and did not know it. Jesus invited all who were in need of spiritual comfort to come to Him by faith and receive living water. This flowing, living water represents new life and the comforting graces of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritually, the worldly man pursues a dry and weary life. The amusements of this world leave him deeply discontented. There is something more for which he thirsts and yet, he does not even know of the “living water” which he so desperately needs. It is like drinking from a mud puddle when a fountain of pure water is just a few steps away. However, even the Christian encounters deserts and wastelands in life. David writes a wonderful description of this:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1 ESV)

David actually wrote this when he was in the wilderness of Judah. He was surrounded by desert. He, along with his loyal followers, were running for their lives. David’s son, Absalom, was leading a rebellion against him.

In this song, we see that even people who know God sometimes experience thirst for the comforting presence of His Spirit. On occasion this may result from the circumstances of life. Other times we may thirst as the consequence of an erratic prayer life, inconsistent reading of the Scripture, irregular church attendance, or personal sin.

The man who knows God and thirsts runs to Jesus because He is the grace and saving power of God brought near to us in His Son. Jesus supplies us with the abundant, soul-satisfying rivers of His Spirit and the Spirit reveals to us the riches of Christ for our every need. The water that Christ gives will be a fountain of everlasting life in the believer and a means of spreading God’s grace to others.

O Lord, thank you that our thirst drives us to You. Fill us with your living waters so that we may become fountains of that same water and share with others the grace You have so freely given us. Amen.