Not a Well.
Have you ever considered yourself as a well, an essential place to bring forth water? A place where water can be drawn up to quench thirstiness for a parched soul? A place where someone can draw buckets of water to feel nourished?
Let's consider what a well is…
In order to create a well there is a man made excavation process; one has to unearth or lay bare the debris and dirt to make way for water to come forth. There has to be a digging out, and the — scooping out of raw material for the water to keep flowing up from the ground in order to be drawn up and given to someone, and there has to be something to draw water up from the well whether shallow or deep. A lot of us have done the work of excavating and clearing out debris and would consider ourselves to be a good and deep well, benefiting those around us, but the truth is, God did NOT call us to be a well. See, a man made well can be a place where healing can be held back or given; it can quench, yet at times, be so dry that the bones ache and become shackled. A well can, in fact, become a pit that others fall into and can never get out again. We are not called to continually dig and clear debris ourselves in order to try and provide a decent water source. God has called us to and promised us something much more!
Jesus told the woman at the well that if she were to draw water from that source, she would become thirsty once again, yet if she drank the water he had to offer she would be fully quenched— forever.
…the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. – John 4:14 ESV
Being fully quenched means we do not have to continually try to clear debris ourselves in order for the water to seep out of the ground, nor do we have to reach a bucket down a hole to pick up water, laboring to bring it up to quench our thirst and the thirst of others. We never have to worry about drying out or becoming a dangerous pit as long as we fill up with the gift he has given us, the Holy Spirit. The water that flows out from him is like a spring, it is living water and it flows forth abundantly— always… and he has given us access to it! We are not on our own, and we do not have to labor on our own, for that rushing water does all the excavation needed and it takes place immediately and continually.
Knowing this, we must contemplate, think fully and deeply about, and consider thoroughly— Do we want to become a well that runs deep and may flow abundantly for a time with the chance of drying out, or do we want to be a spring of living water with a never-ending supply? Do we want living water to rush through us to others, or do we want to be a man made well…a reservoir where contempt and bitterness can grow when water becomes stagnant? Do we want a water source that may shackle, or one that is always able to unshackle and quench dry bones?
If we are trying to be a well, instead of a spring, we are quenching the source— the Holy Spirit, which means, we are barely quenching anyone's thirst. Let's move forward this week filling up with the Holy Spirit and letting go of the man made water source we may have found ourselves trying to dig.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. – John 7:38 ESV
