Waterworks

 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42: 1, 2

    When I went to work for the water company at age 25, I didn't even know what a water main was. Having grown up in a home with modern plumbing, I never gave a thought as to how fresh, potable water came from the faucet; I just knew that it did. As my education at Ohio Water Service unfolded, I learned that water drawn from Lake Erie was then sent to a filtration plant for treatment before it was pumped out across Lake County via water mains. Terms like ductile iron pipe, service lines, meter vaults and low strength mortar became familiar to me. Amazingly, this whole world of service to bring life-giving water to its customers had been unknown to me and quite taken for granted.

    Just as our bodies need water to survive, even more so do our souls. Sometimes, we spend more time working on our physical tent, neglecting the fact that our true being is dehydrated. We, who were created by God, need the nourishment He provides which can be found in the pages of our Bible. That's where we can go and meet with God.

    Imagine if you turned on your faucet and no water came forth? That's what it is like for many inhabitants of the world who have no Bibles. I was reading in the Voice of the Martyrs newsletter about a small church in Ethiopia who only had one Bible amongst them. Each week, the believers took turns taking that precious Book home with them, bringing it back on Sunday for the pastor to use. 

    In Iran, one thirsty family who had no Bible listened to God's word on a Christian radio station every day and jotted down the Scripture in a notebook, thereby making a collection of verses. 

    Many nations have declared the Bible to be illegal. A man who has been smuggling Bibles into hostile territories for the past 25 years said, "I am still astonished at the lengths to which persecutors will go to seek and destroy a book they claim to be fiction." Why such a drive to eliminate this Book? 

    Here's the reason: Within its pages God's Truth is found. Liars are threatened by the truth because it exposes their deception and Satan, the father of liars and author of false religion, hates it when we read our Bibles. That fact alone ought to propel us to "turn on the faucets" of living water and quench our thirsty souls. Never take your Bible for granted.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55: 9-11