Oh, I am in trouble. My wife has been gone for three days and the last thing she said to me was, “Don’t forget to water the plants.” This afternoon as I walked past a drooping hanging basket of flowers I thought, “We sure could use some rain.” Then it hit me. I was supposed to be the rain. The only hope I have for some kind of redemption is that they will recover if I soak them. She will get home tonight after dark and won’t see them until morning. Maybe, just maybe, they will be perky in the morning and she will never know. Perky would be good.
As all good farmers and horticulturalists know growing plants need adequate water. Deprive them for just a short amount of time and they will wither up just like people’s spiritual lives if deprived of a daily watering from heaven. Like plants we are dependent upon external essentials. If we long to thrive we need daily supplies of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual food and water.
On the mornings of the annual Feast of the Tabernacles a priest carried a vessel of water to the altar to represent the Rock that had supplied the children of Israel with their daily supply of water while in the wilderness. On such an occasion Jesus stepped forth and said with a loud voice, “Whoever thirsts let Him come to me for I am the water of life.” It was an amazingly bold declaration of His identity and power. Position, power and pomp were inadequate to satisfy the spiritual hunger of the people. Nothing has changed. It is still Jesus, the Creator of all things, who can satisfy our thirst for real life and real growth.
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 9, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org