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. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. — John 7:37–39 NIV
OK, so this weird thing has been happening to me lately. According to all my friends, I don’t drink enough water. That part isn’t new. They’ve told me that repeatedly over the years, but I’d simply scoff at their censure and tell them of the “many” bottles I had drunk over a two- or three-day span. I could normally recall starting at least four bottles, though I don’t know if I actually finished them. I’d assume that if I could remember four, I probably forgot seven.
The lies we tell ourselves.
My friends are right. I really don’t drink enough water. And now I can tell, because there are times when I finally pick up a bottle and raise it to my lips, and my body kind of goes crazy. Something within me gets ravenous and intense. My hands get a little shaky, my throat pops out of my mouth, and my lips grip the bottle as if I had been stranded in the desert for a week. I guzzle the liquid in a few seconds and a tithe of it almost always ends up on my beard and shirt.
Our bodies are comprised of mostly water — up to 75 percent of our bodies, somehow, is well-organized water.
Water is essential for cellular homeostasis and life. It regulates body temperature, maintains our muscles, lubricates joints, prevents constipation, flushes out waste products, carries nutrients to our cells, and protects our organs and tissues.
- We need water.
But when I refuse to provide my body with what it needs, it slows down, loses dexterity and agility, and has to take bigger, longer, more embarrassing gulps. I guess I could survive this way, but it’s kind of ridiculous. And who knows what irreparable damage is being caused by my occasional dehydration?
By contrast, my friend walks around with a Stanley cup. You know, the ones that have caused stampedes in places like Target. A big, forty-ounce, inconvenient jug of water. All day. Every day. While I think of water once or twice a day and chug it down like an animal in the occasional desperate moments, she stays tethered to some all day. A sip here. A swig there. And her skin, organs, and hair rejoice.
In contrast to the “mountain” I had been climbing, the “valley” and all it brings — namely, your reconnection to sonship or daughterhood with God — is like water to the soul and spirit. The spirit, the water, the image of God, and the presence of God, all of which we find in the valley, are what we are comprised of and what we need. The valley is the venue where we get more of what we are already made of.
And just like the body to water, you can either stay tethered to the valley’s spiritual water source and drink often, or you can stay away and dehydrate.
Physically, dehydration may start out as a headache or fatigue, but continued lack of water can drop your blood sugar dangerously low, cause electrolyte imbalances, heat stroke, kidney failure, and yes, even death. Without adequate hydration, you’ll find yourself in an ER needing an IV to recover.
Spiritually, dehydration may start out as barely perceptible, but continued lack of the Living Water of prayer, praise, and time in God’s Word can drop your stores of faith and fortitude dangerously low.
Without adequate hydration at the deepest places of our hearts and souls, we’ll likely find ourselves needing emergency intervention to survive and recover.
The mountain mindset may be necessary to work by day, but are you anchored to the valley enough to relinquish your titles and lie in the valley by evening?
You’re the boss all week, but are you anchored enough to exist as just a son or daughter on the weekend? Can you stop working on the Sabbath?
You’ve been touring all season and God has given you grace as you’ve ascended the mountain, but can you step down to Him and live from being a daughter or son first?
Better yet, in the middle of your song, your board meeting, and your day’s parental duties, could you be so anchored in the valley that, for a second, even there, you are reminded that all this greatness, responsibility, and leading still ends with you safe in God’s fatherly arms?
I believe we can.
I believe we must.
We can either carry around and keep refilling that Stanley cup of sonship and daughterhood, frequently going back to the Living Water that is in our familial relationship with God — Christ, the Holy Spirit — or we could pay a lot more for an IV of saline in the emergency room to rehydrate from the brink of death.
Climbing a little bit higher up the mountain is not worth the risk of that high cost.
Lord God, thank You that You not only promise to provide me with spiritual water, but that You are the Living Water, the only well from which my soul’s thirst can be quenched. By Your Spirit, lead me to drink more deeply of Your goodness and grace today. Amen.
Adapted with permission from Before You Climb Any Higher by Jonathan McReynolds, copyright Jonathan McReynolds.
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Your Turn
Are you a water guzzler or are you regularly dehydrated? How about spiritually? Do you stay so connected to the Lord that living water is constantly available to you? Let’s drink deeply today! ~ Devotionals Daily