As we prepare to launch into Overflow: Living Water for an Empty Age, we will be shifting into a new rhythm of email devotionals for this year. This week, we will begin this shift with the words of one of the best known passages of Scripture: Psalm 23. We invite you to take time this week to reflect on God’s desire for your life and to see where He has sought to have your cup overflow.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 4:13-14, John 7:38
In my previous call at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, we took our high school and college students to Supai to camp. It was equivalent to a Rutledge in terms of excitement and the desire of students to go. This trip was always full, accumulating a waitlist within minutes of opening sign-ups.
This is no ordinary trip. The camp is located in the Arizona desert near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Students need to train and be in good physical shape as it is a 12-mile hike in and out, carrying 20-30 lb. packs. It is grueling to say the least. The first part of the journey is a quarter mile of steep downhill switchbacks, followed by miles of hiking through dry riverbeds and rocks. But once you reach mile eight or nine, you see turquoise blue water. It is surreal to see this blue water in the middle of the desert.
By the time you reach camp, your water bottle is empty, and you experience a desperate need of and desire for water. A spring is hidden behind bushes, nestled right next to a rock wall. It has cold, clear, and delicious water. It quenches your thirst and fills your belly. We constantly made trips back and forth to this natural spring that never stopped running and always provided what we needed. Without that natural spring, camping for a week with eighty students would have been tough to pull off.
I am reminded by Jesus’ words to the woman at the well in John 4:14 that whoever drinks the water He gives them will never thirst and that this water He gives will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. He adds to this in John 7:38 that whoever believes in Him will have rivers of living water flowing from within them.
In our busy lives, we can find ourselves parched, thirsty, spiritually dry, and feeling as though we are in a desert. We seek anything that will quench our spiritual thirst. Yet, the people and things we run to often leave us thirsty still. The world provides us with fleeting pleasure coupled with temporary satisfaction and fulfillment.
In the arid and dry landscape of our lives, Jesus offers us a divine reservoir full of grace and love. It is a spring, like the one in Supai, that never runs dry and is constantly flowing and available to each of us. It is not simply a momentary relief but a continuous source of hope and faith, even amid the darkest and driest valleys we travel. It is a source of living water that fills our lives and should spill over into the lives of those around us. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. He is the source of our joy, hope, and strength. So drink; drink from the cup of life He freely gives us. Drink of your time with Jesus. Drink of His goodness and His love. May your souls be quenched, and may you run to Him, the spring of life.
For Reflection
- What needs to shift or change in your life in order for you to experience a life in which your soul is quenched and rivers of living water flow from your life?
- How might you slow down this week in order for you to sit with Jesus and allow Him to quench your thirst?
- When do you notice that you don’t feel like living water is flowing from your life, and why?
Take five minutes to ask Jesus to fill your cup, quench your thirst, and guide you toward His stream of life.
Prayer
Father, we come before you with hearts filled with gratitude for the living water you freely give us. So many of us lived parched lives when it is unnecessary, while you eagerly wait for us to dip our toes in the stream of life. In the hustle of our busy lives, we often turn to the world for satisfaction, only to find ourselves remaining thirsty. Today, we lift our souls to You, acknowledging that true fulfillment can only come from the Living Water that you offer.
Remind us this week that whoever drinks the water You give will never thirst again. We pray for the grace to continually drink from the well of Your love, which sustains us and keeps us. May our spiritual lives be like the natural spring in Supai, never running dry, always available to quench our deepest thirst.
In moments of spiritual drought, may we remember the promise of Your eternal spring. As we drink deeply from the cup of life You freely give us, may our souls be quenched, and may we run to You, the spring of life. In Jesus’ name, we pray.
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