Paying For Water



Scripture:

Lam. 5:4     We must pay for the water we drink;
        the wood we get must be bought.

Observation:

The Israelites have been defeated and Jerusalem is in despair. Nothing belongs to them anymore. Water and fire had always been free for the inhabitants of the city. Now, they had to pay a tax to drink the water from their own cisterns. They had to pay to use their own wood. And as they were marched into exile they had to pay to drink from the rivers along the journey. That which was needed to sustain life was no longer provided but instead, had to be acquired at a very steep price.

Application:

Portions of the United States are currently suffering from a severe drought. California is now in its third year of drought and people can be fined for wasting water. What, at times, seems so normal to use and consume becomes a very precious commodity.

In the Middle East people are fighting over water and who has control over the source as well as portions of rivers. Whose water is it? Who will pay for it? It’s not free!

Water is necessary for all life and there have always been times when it has been a very precious and costly commodity. And yet, we must do whatever is necessary to have access to water.

Just as we would do anything to have access to good water, so we need to be sustained from the spring of living water. Over and over again we read of the importance of living water to sustain God’s people. The woman at the well was thrilled at the idea of never thirsting again! In Isaiah we read of God providing “streams in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19) and him saying, “I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” (Isaiah 41:18)

This language of water is used throughout the Scriptures to not only talk about physical water, but also spiritual sustenance. The Israelites were suffering for their disobedience and therefore had to pay for the physical water to drink. In the spiritual realm we may find ourselves ignoring the well of water provided to us by way of the Holy Spirit. This was God’s intent, the way in which humanity could be connected to a continual infusion of spiritual water. Just as many of us have potable water that comes from our faucets and we have water to drink, so our spiritual water is available to us.

Interestingly, many of us don’t drink the water that flows freely from our faucet. Instead, we choose to buy bottled water. This is a fascinating thing since so often, say at a restaurant, tap water may be free, and yet, we pay for a bottle of water. Why is that? Is it that sometimes we just have gotten into the habit of buying water? It seems to be convenient and yet, it is expensive! I recall when we lived in Russia it cost more to buy bottled water in a kiosk than it did Coke! Why would you pay for something that could be free? Why place restrictions on the size of something that we can have to drink when it is available and flowing freely?

Have we done this to ourselves spiritually? It seems that we are wanting our spiritual lives packed in little bottles that look nice. We are even willing to pay for it. And yet, is this really good for us? Our little doses of spirituality are not enough to sustain us. We need to be drinking deeply and often directly from the well of living water. Getting our bottled spirituality second hand will not sustain us and it’s costly.

We are invited to the eternally sustaining free water that comes from the living well. Even today we are free to sit at the well and drink long and deep from the cool and sustaining water that comes from the Holy Spirit. Why limit ourselves to bottled up and expensive spirituality when all that we need is already provided for us. The water is free! There is no longer any need to pay! Jesus has paid the debt and now we are simply invited to come and to drink.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the blessing of your living water today.  Amen.

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