I Need | He Provides: The Water
I’ve always had a loving relationship with nature. Growing up in my grandparents’ house, I’d spend most of my summer days running through the backyard, climbing the sturdy fruit trees, tending to the vegetable garden with my granddad, and awing at the flower beds and herb bushes that lined the swimming pool. Plants have always been a silent reminder of the wonder of life to me, so it’s not surprising that I’d want to be surrounded by them in my adulthood.
Quarantine has offered me so much space to make room for a lot of the things that align with who I am, who I’m becoming, and the different things God has blessed me to be passionate about. One of those things is indoor gardening and filling my environment with plants — especially that of the air purifying kind. On a relatively recent venture to Home Depot with my roommates, I finally found the one I’d wanted for three years: the Peace Lily. Her scientific name is Spathiphyllum, but my bf and I have named her Joya. Upon bringing her home, I set Joya in my window sill so she could be with all of my other houseplants. It brought me joy seeing her in all her glory, beauty, and vivaciousness every morning. Then her leaves began to droop, and some started to spot. What I quickly learned is that Joya is a plant that requires very little sunlight. Otherwise, her leaves would die. I also learned something else a little more vital. Joya is a tropical plant, so she needed to water and lots of it. [Almanac]
All living things are mostly water. Of the Earth’s surface, more than 70% is water. Plants are 90-95% water, chickens are 75% water, and it makes up about 60% of the human adult body. Water regulates our temperature and other functions; water nourishes our bodies. Everything is water, and all creation needs water to live. [USGS - Water & the Human Body; Cool Australia]
What do we drink?
Water can quench our thirst, and we will always be thirsty again after drinking it. During their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites ran into this problem twice. The first time they were thirsty for water was in Marah, an oasis where the water was bitter. After Moses cried out to Him for help, God showed Moses a piece of wood and instructed him to throw it in the bitter water. The water was cleaned, and they drank. The second time they were thirsty was in the first half of Exodus 17, where they camped at Rephidim, a town where there was no water. Again, they complained to Moses about their thirst in disbelief of God’s provision, and Moses cried out to God for help. This time, God provided water in a new way, through a rock he instructed Moses to strike with his staff. [Exodus 17:1-6] The rock was a miraculous vessel for water only God could provide in a place where there was none.
Isaiah 43:19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will take a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
The apostle Paul refers to Jesus as the rock through which the Israelites drank. [1 Corinthians 10:4] When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he told her that if she knew the gift God had for her and who she was speaking to, she would ask and He would give her water. He goes on to say, “Anyone who drinks this water [from the well] will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again…” [John 4:10-14]
Just like He met the woman at the well in her need, Christ will always meet us in ours. Our spiritual thirst for righteousness brings us to the Wellspring of Living Water that overflows with goodness. All we have to do is ask, and our need — and all other needs — will be provided by God whose resources are limitless and abundant.
Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!
Through HIs sacrifice, Jesus made a way for all of our spiritual needs to be met. In our thirst, we can cry out to our Heavenly Father who will meet us in our need exactly where we. When we accept His Word into our hearts, God will pour out His Holy Spirit, so that we may be filled with the River that never runs dry. [John 7:37-39]
Just like He is God, the Word of God, and the Bread of life, Jesus is Living Water — Living Water that will quench our thirst, nourish our parched souls, never leave us empty, and last from generation to generation.
Isaiah 44:3-4 “For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank.”
