37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37-38 NKJV
Living in the world but not being of the world – that can be a real drain on the life that is within us, especially if that life is not being replenished by a Divine source. I took my family on a little expedition yesterday to try to connect with the outdoors and Nature, however the experience fell short of what we had desired. At one part in the trip we were walking on a beach that had plenty of distractions – big trucks, loud music, drinking, thong bikinis and even one guy urinating at the water’s edge for all to see. I came away from that experience feeling worn out – not refreshed as I hoped to be. I just felt weary of the crude reality of our very carnal culture, which seems to be headed to the same moral decadence that Sodom and Gomorrah practiced. I think that Lot experienced the same weariness when he lived in Sodom – the scripture says that was tormented daily by “seeing and hearing their lawless deeds” (2 Peter 2:8). It can get real depressing when we focus on the sinfulness of the World!
There’s something about being out in Nature, and away from Man’s developed artificial environment that I really enjoy and crave at times. I think this is a God-given craving on a spiritual, emotional and physical level. He designed us to connect with Him through the created beauty and peace in Nature.
Thinking about yesterday’s experience, I am reminded of Jesus’ words at the feast in John 7 quoted above. What a Christ-Follower needs to survive in our pagan society is to be connected to the source of Living Water..i.e. Jesus! We need living water not only for spiritual sustenance, but also for the literal cleansing our our souls from the filth of society’s moral depravity. Enjoying Nature is a great way to connect with the Creator (i.e. the Living Water) and of course there are other vehicles that can foster connection with Him as well, such as prayer, worship and reading scripture.
Jesus’ statement above suggests that we must make some effort to connect – “let him come to Me and drink.” We can’t lay on our proverbial couch and expect Jesus to bring the water to us…no, we must get up and go to the Well and draw it out. When we do this, we can expect some amazing things to start happening in our lives, as the living water springs forth from within us. This is the same God who caused springs of water to burst forth from a dry rock in the middle of a desert, enabling a great multitude of rebellious people to drink to their content. If he did it for them, he can surely do it in each of us!
