Have you ever felt parched and really needed something to quench your thirst? It is a word that is a bit out of use now but it definitely adds an intensity to just being thirsty! I looked up the origin of parched to find it comes from the Middle English perchen which is related to perish! Sometimes you might have felt if you didn’t get water, you would perish. Other meanings of the word said to dry, roast, shrivel, be very dry! That just makes me thirsty reading them. Have you ever seen parched land? This land is so dry, it looks like shriveled puzzle pieces. Nothing can grow there until there is water again! In John 7, Jesus says something remarkable about Himself that certainly removes us from being parched spiritually.
Part of the Jewish Festival of Shelters, was a daily water ceremony that included prayer and water being poured over the altar. This was a request of God to send rain in the late autumn. The prayer sung by the Levitical priests was from Isaiah 12:3
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
On the “great day” (last day) of the festival, the climax was the pouring of water seven times over the altar! What a perfect time for Jesus to loudly declare, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37-38
Not only the promise of salvation, but the promise of life where living water flows in and through those who believe. We know this living water is the Holy Spirit who would come to dwell permanently in believers after Jesus returned to glory. The source of this Living Water is the Lord Jesus.
“The LORD will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Isaiah 58:11
Reflection:
Read John 7:37-38 again as you remember when you came to Jesus and drank! (If you haven’t done that, you can right now)
Read again Isaiah 58:11 and ponder how the Holy Spirit flows through you because you are “like a spring whose waters never fail.”
I Thessalonians 5:19 warns us “Do not quench the Spirit”. How can we keep from doing that so the Holy Spirit can flow out of us? Pray asking the Lord to show you!
Francie Overstreet