Isa 12.3 With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of Salvation
Some years ago, Di and I had a holiday in Marbella on the Spanish coast. Someone from the church had an apartment there and wanted us to use it free of charge. It was lovely to be there, and we enjoyed the walks, the swimming and the sunshine. The apartment was part of a well-managed complex with lots of colourful tropical plants and extensive areas of very green grass as well as being right near the beach. Early each morning at the same time all the plants and flowers received water from a sprinkling system that was supplied by water from a deep well on the property.
I was interested in how this worked and got the inside story from one of the staff. When a well was first dug, they very quickly found water so did not need to dig deeply. However, when they put the water through the sprinkling system, plants started to look poor, turn brown and then die off. When they had the water tested, they found it contained a high percentage of salt. That made sense as they were so close to the coast. They abandoned that source of water, moved further away from the sea, and dug a much deeper well. When they tested its water, it was pure and clean. When this source was connected to the sprinkler system the plants thrived, and the same source is used to this day.
Through my teens I had been a nominal Christian. I went to church most weeks and considered myself a Christian but compromised my beliefs and we could say the spring I drank from was rather shallow and the water was rather brackish. Just before I hit 20 my life was in crisis, so I turned wholeheartedly to God for help and encountered the Holy Spirit and things changed. I drank from a much deeper well. I couldn’t wait to meet with other like-minded believers each Sunday.
I met with others midweek and whenever else I could. I was discovering the benefits of speaking in tongues, learning how to hear God and prophecy myself as well as pray for healing. I saw answers to my prayers and spent time regularly in the Bible. I introduced my new findings to friends, and some embraced a similar longing to go deeper with God. The thing about this period of my life that I remember is the joy of discovering these new aspects of walking with God.
Looking back has reminded me that it’s much better to be digging deeper and drinking from that pure fresh well. It’s a much more wholehearted approach to being a believer and it’s so much more fulfilling. What is our response to God’s desire for us to deep deeper to find that well of pure water?
