Devotion 1.19.16

We are drawn to water.  Water is a source of life, so geographically, most cities develop along waterways, where commerce and trade occur.  Water provides for our lives as it brings plants to life that provide food, shelter, and even the air we breathe.

The Guadalupe River which flows from central Texas to the coast provides an abundance of life on its journey.  It contributes to many as it courses its way through the state in all kinds of business and commerce from agriculture, tourism,  water to drink, and a host of other economic drivers.  I have been drawn to this river since childhood and my time in the Hill Country while in college.  It has also been the source of many vacations as our family would choose the area for vacations and milestone events.

The photo at left shows what the Guadalupe can look like at its best as it courses through the area just below the Canyon Dam alone a stone river bed.  Cold, clear, and as you can see, rapid flowing make it a beautiful site. 

God uses water to describe his power or as a metaphor to faith throughout scripture.  In Numbers, Israel, God's chosen people, are described this way, "Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the Lord has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters." (24:6)  God destroyed the army of Egypt with water, God hid Moses in water, God's power dries up water as a description of the barren landscape of faith, and God heals with water.  In Psalm 66, we are told that God binds up water in the clouds and yet they do not burst.  Rivers, waters, and seas.  All are used frequently in scripture.

Christ assures us, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38)  Water and Word together provide that eternal life through baptism, where our faith comes from the living water.  While at the well, Christ asks a Samaritan woman for a drink, and as she draws the water from the well, Christ uses the opportunity to tell her the water he can provide. "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4)

We thank God for the actual water we have, so precious after a drought like we have had here in West Texas.  We thank God for all the life-giving qualities of our water.  We also thank him for the spiritual water that cleanses us and quenches our thirst for eternal life through his Son Jesus Christ and for the healing waters of baptism when it combines with his Word to redeem us.

Hope Men's Ministry