"So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food for the journey, and strapped a container of water to Hagar'sshoulders. He sent her away with her son, and she walked out into the wilderness of Beersheba, wandering aimlessly........When the water was gone.......she burst into tears....Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well." Genesis 21:14-16, 19..........."Do we want a canteen of water or a well of Living Water."
This is the third time that my writing seems to have a desert setting. It's not the direction I had any intention of going in, but it is the way He's leading. Maybe it's because for all who truly wish to live fully in Him, the desert will await....whether we desire it or not. The question then is, with what and how will we make the journey? In the barren wasteland, our needs will be many. Food. Rest. But above all, water. Lots of water. Like our physical life, our spiritual one will not last very long without constant fillings of the water of His Life. Moore's question confronts us. Will we try to make the journey carrying our water supply in a canteen? Or, will we walk in the constant presence and supply of Him who is the Well of Living Water and Life? Which will we look for? To which are we looking now?
I think most of try to make do with our canteens. We try to fill them up in the weekly worship service, the mid-week Bible study, and whatever "quiet time" we can get in between those. We're hoping the canteen doesn't run dry in the meantime, but too often it will. It does. Life is a constant process and journey of trying to keep the canteen filled, but more often than not, watching it become empty. When you carry your water in a canteen, it has to be taken in small doses. You always fear it running out before you can get to the next well. The result is your thirst is never really satisfied, and you're never really filled. Instead of a flow of water, we have drops. This is so in the spiritual realm as well. We live on drops, which is not the life He has for as at all. Like Hagar, we despair when the canteen is dry, and like Hagar, we are unable to see the well that He has right before us. The well of Living Water that is Christ. So many souls have fallen by the wayside in the desert because they were depending on a canteen to survive, and not He who is the Source of all Living Water, and does not promise survival, but abundance.
I think most of try to make do with our canteens. We try to fill them up in the weekly worship service, the mid-week Bible study, and whatever "quiet time" we can get in between those. We're hoping the canteen doesn't run dry in the meantime, but too often it will. It does. Life is a constant process and journey of trying to keep the canteen filled, but more often than not, watching it become empty. When you carry your water in a canteen, it has to be taken in small doses. You always fear it running out before you can get to the next well. The result is your thirst is never really satisfied, and you're never really filled. Instead of a flow of water, we have drops. This is so in the spiritual realm as well. We live on drops, which is not the life He has for as at all. Like Hagar, we despair when the canteen is dry, and like Hagar, we are unable to see the well that He has right before us. The well of Living Water that is Christ. So many souls have fallen by the wayside in the desert because they were depending on a canteen to survive, and not He who is the Source of all Living Water, and does not promise survival, but abundance.
How are walking today? Are we depending on our "canteen" and the next meeting, prayer group, bible study, or conference to fill it? Or, have our eyes been opened to the well of Life, His Life, that's there right now? That's always there. Will we carry a canteen of water, or will we be carried along by the River of His Life? A river that can never stop flowing, even in the deepest and driest desert place? When we truly know our Source, we can throw away all our canteens. They'll not be needed. We don't live from "oasis to oasis," In the most desolate place, He will be a perpetual oasis to us. The River of God will flow. Will it flow into and through us?
Blessings,
Pastor O
Blessings,
Pastor O
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