Streams of Living Water | Dreaming Beneath the Spires
I read this in the blog of a new blogger yesterday, who has two blog followers, one of whom is me.
“I also received an image of the floodgates being opened and an outpouring of waters. A really big outpouring of water, almost a welling up of water . I have never had an image before. I hope to offer it to those for whom it may have meaning.”
And, as this was what I was praying for in Devon, guess whom I thought it was meant for?
Sorry, will try not to go all mystical on you, but this morning, this lovely passage from Scripture came to me. I knew it by heart, having memorised it as a novice at Mother Teresa’s Convent when I was 17.
1Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money;
come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
I meditating on this passage this morning, and then looked at my watch and was horrified. I had been doing so for 2 hours and 15 minutes! Very happy hours and minutes, but it just did not feel that long. And it was like an encounter with an old friend, as I felt waves of the Holy Spirit filling me again, making me laugh with joy.
And why did God pour out his goodness today? For no reason, just as the passage said. Just because. Just because I came. And he gave a sense of joy and waves of his Spirit, indeed “delighting my soul as with the richest of fare.” So much so that I could just laugh with happiness, and did (since I was alone).
I love these metaphors of streams of living water in Scripture, and I guess they had even more meaning to those who dwelt in a hot and thirsty land.
And here are a few of my favourite passages which have the same metaphor, and I joyously meditated on some of them this morning.
Ezekiel 47 Where the water from the sanctuary ” enters the Dead Sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish.12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
John 4 3 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Isn’t that a lovely, lovely image?
John 7: 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Or this
John 6 :5 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
And finally
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
I really truly believe that our deepest, realest joy is found in God. It’s odd isn’t it that we go to him so infrequently to drink deep of these streams of living water.
Closing with two songs which I have been singing today.
(Sorry, this comes with a 30 sec ad. added by its creator, not me.)
