GodReflection: God The Nurturer

“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” (John 4:14).

My parents were campers. It was a time of life when we lived on air and the grace of God—money was almost nonexistent. Each year my folks scraped and saved to provide gasoline for the family car and to buy an out-of-state fishing license for my dad.

At two or three o’clock in the morning we were roused from bed and moved to the car to finish our sleep. We were on our way to camp by cold mountain streams.
A favorite family destination was the Rocky Mountains.

I especially enjoyed a National Forest camp spot near a snow melt supplied stream. Our little camp trailer nested in by the stream provided a place to created rich memories. Each night we encircled a glowing campfire and listened to the delightful noise of the stream flow over its rocky bed.

On the side of a hill an ice-cold spring flowed from the rocks to provide what I remember as ‘the best water in the world.’ It was ours to enjoy during the few short days of our vacation. That wonderful spring water would not last. Vacations end and we would return home to drink the treated water of our little town.

Since my childhood, entrepreneurs now make millions as they bottle, market and sell spring water to a public that longs for pure water. Each purchase has its limit. It too runs dry. Shoppers return for more.

For over two thousand years followers of Jesus have told and retold a story witnessed by Jesus first disciples. An unnamed woman came to draw water. To her surprise she encountered the Messiah who gave her a promise packed full with intrigue.
As she conversed with Jesus, his promise caught her attention: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus promise still stands. It comes straight from God The Nurturer. It is no less than an offer of sustenance from the Divine. In water, united with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection I am joined to the one who offers, “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

It is as if I opened my mouth during the burial and drank a quenching gulp of the water he gives me so I will never thirst. Connected with him by a spiritual intravenous tube my heart feeds from his. The line supplies eternal spring water from the Holy.

The same John who records the Master’s promise of living water, shares Jesus final vision—the river of the water of life:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:1-2,17).

Like the woman from two thousand years ago, it’s still an offer too good to refuse—free water that frees me from thirst.

I like the way King David expressed it: Taste and see that the LORD is good (Psalms 34:8). Water from the Lord not only provides Holy nutrition in this present life, but just think, in the next reality the springs becomes a river.

Sounds too good to miss doesn’t it? What is your experience with water that Lasts?

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells

A GodReflection: Water that Lasts 

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