O Lord, our creator and sustainer, we come to you this day mindful of how richly your Word uses the word “water.”
It speaks of water in the literal sense as when, for instance, David, pursued by Saul, yearned for a taste of water from the well of his hometown of Bethlehem. But it also uses the physical need and desire for water to picture for us our need for You (“as the deer pants for the water brooks”), your provision for your people (“He leads me beside the still waters”), and even of the greatest provision in Your Son, who told us that He provides the water that becomes “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The power of these words is somewhat diminished for us in the West, for we are rarely more than a few steps from a faucet that pours forth an unlimited stream of crystal clear, clean water. That is not the case in much of the world.
In some neighborhoods in third world cities, there may be one hydrant for a whole neighborhood, flowing with water of dubious quality. If the power grid goes down, as it often does, the water stops flowing. And yet these people are better off than their country kin who walk several miles each morning with a plastic five-gallon jerrican to gather their daily water from a khaki-colored creek, contaminated with who knows what chemicals and vermin.
Grant to us in the West a knowledge of Your goodness to use with our wealth of water. Help us to work for the provision of clean, clear water for those not blessed as we are. Above all, grant the water of Your Word, that Christ might be the living water within us. In His name, Amen
