He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, (Psalm 23:2)
Quiet waters. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Especially when we look around us and see broken cisterns. (Jeremiah 2:13) Our Savior told us:
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.”39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39, NIV)
Why, oh why, are we not content with the Spirit? The quiet waters that Jesus was referring to? We are born again through the Spirit and He indwells us; He empowers us to live the holy lives that we aspire to, if we will depend upon Him. Jesus also told us that the Spirit would help us, comfort us, and teach us. Paul said that the Spirit will give us hope in our trials and that He prays for us. We even receive our spiritual gifts from Him, and we have boldness to witness if we rely upon Him.
With the bounty offered in the living water from our Good Shepherd, why would we want to quench our thirst with the polluted, busted up cisterns in this sinful world?
Let's think about our flock of sheep again - the shepherd (and his faithful dog, if he's lucky enough to have one) know where the watering holes are. They know just where to find clear, fresh water for the sheep to drink and be refreshed. But sometimes, in spite of the best efforts of the shepherd, and in spite of the nips and yelps of his dog, trying to encourage the sheep to go in the right direction, some of the flock will not wait. They stop to drink from polluted potholes along the trail. Places along the pathway that are contaminated with the dust, manure, and urine of previous flocks that traveled the pathway.
Ugh. And it's SO bad for them. Sure, it satisfies them for the moment; their thirst is gone for the short term. But here's the thing: it will eventually make them truly sick. They will be taking in parasites and germs; tiny protozoans and bigger bacteria . . . they will stop thriving, get sick, and eventually even die. That's the price they pay for "instant gratification" and not following their shepherd to the fresh, clear water.
You know where I'm going with this, right? (Grin) I'm so transparent.
Some believers are just like those sheep. They don't want to wait. They don't want to follow the Lord along that pathway in order to fulfill their desires. It takes too long. It's too much work. They want a quick fix, that "instant gratification" we mentioned. So, they are attracted to the polluted, sickness-inducing potholes of the world. "What can it hurt?" they say. What they don't realize (or care to remember, if they've been told) is that the consequences of sin can be delayed. Sometimes those seeds take quite a while to sprout and grow. Suddenly the sinful believer finds himself or herself riddled with the "parasites" and "disease" of sin. That believer is now in big trouble, and may even blame God for their problems!
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9)
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well these words:
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.”
Are we content with the water our Good Shepherd provides? If we want true contentment, we must walk by the Holy Spirit. God will guide us and help us be more like our Redeemer.
I LOVED this.
ReplyDeleteFood for the soul! ❤️
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