California is largely desert, but that’s easy to forget. In the midst of this desert we grow beautiful green lawns and luscious fruit, all because we bring in water artificially. We fool ourselves … until a drought hits.
Israel, too, is mostly desert. Cisterns are dug to catch rain or the occasional flood. But cistern water isn’t fresh. It gets muddy and warm. It also runs out.
Living water is a cultural term in the Bible used for water coming directly from God. It hasn’t been “caught” by human hands or stored. It includes rain, streams, and springs. If you live in a desert, a spring is a source of life. It is fresh water that doesn’t run out. Jesus says, “I am the living water.”
As a sojourner in this world, I live in a spiritual desert. I can fool myself and make the personal lawn of my life look green by relying on artificial irrigation supplied by the world - entertainment, status, or wealth. Even though they can seem to sustain for short periods, they will eventually run out. Living water is needed, not a murky substitute.
Many of us live as if California were not a desert because we have allowed our eyes to deceive us. But I heard this week that, unless it rains, there is only one year of water left. It takes a drought to remind us of where we actually live. Similarly, when my soul is parched, I’m eventually reminded of where I live. It’s a desert. I can survive for a season on the world's murky cistern water, even lulling myself into getting used to it. But only when I go to the spring of Living Water, I am truly refreshed.
My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13
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