Near Streams of Water

Near Streams of Water

Water was very important to Israel as the land is covered with very porous soil and stone. Israel is typical to land located near or at sea level, which normally absorbs the rain into the soil as fast as it falls. For this reason its not unusual when the rain stops to find tell tale signs that it had even rained. Israel has a long rainy season that gives the land thorough watering, but as the bible says.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. Hebrews 6:7

You may think that water is plentiful, but in parts of the world water is so precious that water is sold and wars have been waged over water rights. The struggle for water occurred in biblical times under similar conditions. The bible tells us that Moses offered to pay for the water they drank while traveling through Edom to the other side. Again Abraham made covenants with the surrounding peoples to keep rights to the wells he had dug.

The human body dehydrates rapidly and the early symptoms of dehydration begin with thirst. In addition, the need for water may be all that is on your mind when you haven’t had water for a long time. Water is important part of man’s survival as man is 95% water and the medical community advises everyone to drink 8 glasses of water a every day. We lose water in perspiring and evaporation, but without replenishing water to our bodies, man would perish.

The same is true in the spiritual life of man for without spiritual water of God’s word the spirit of man would perish. The spirit needs to be washed and nourished for a healthy spiritual life. In the Old Testament, the inner parts of the sacrifice were washed before being placed on the altar. In the New Testament, your spiritual act of worship is to renew your mind to wash the evil from your heart.

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

The Christian that keeps himself near water is like the tree planted by streams of water. It’s leaf does not fall nor dry out, but yields good fruit in its proper time. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun affect them. Being beside streams of water brings out the beauty of life and enables the living to prosper in the heat of the day.

Plants of the earth take root searching for water and produce a crop useful to those that farm the land. In the same way human beings have their roots in the world’s system searching for ways to support their life. Christians on the other hand must sink their roots into Jesus Christ and things above. Matthew gave this reason.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8

God has prepared good works in advance for man to perform. However, eternal life is not based on what we produce, but on God’s grace and knowing God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

Moses said we live by every word spoken by our father in heaven. Jesus said he spoke every word exactly the way his father told him to say them and that his words were spirit and life. When we think about being beside streams of water lets remember that a river of life flows from the throne of God, and on its banks stands the tree of life yielding its fruit every month. In the meantime we need to drink from the water that God gives us.

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Isaiah 55:1

just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, Ephesians 5:25-26

Being beside streams of water speaks of the living water that flows from God. It should create a desire to be bathing in God’s word and enjoy the times of refreshing that can only come from being in the water God provides. In addition, beside the streams of water speaks of the oasis surrounded be arid land. The oasis is where we received nourishment while renewing our minds to think as God does. In the same way those who build homes dig wells close to the house. The closeness to the well determines your ability to hear, obey and learn to please our Father in Heaven.

In the meantime the human race is in arid places where we have to seek water to survive. Isaiah spoke of people who worship with their mouths, but their hearts were on everything but God. In addition, James said they praise our Lord and Father in church, but they also curse man made in God’s likeness. The double minded want the good things God has to give, but they also place a higher value on the things God hates. At the same time they seldom go looking for spiritual water and will perish for that reason. All they have is hope but even that hope is futile for two reasons. The world does not understand that God has a mind of his own and God will not accept their failure to seek him. They avoided the knowledge of God and refused to go to the stream where the water of life flows.

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