I could probably spend this month just looking at the way Jesus is reflected in nature. He is the Tree of Life, the vine, light, water, earth, lion, lamb; we see Him in the sun, the moon, a seed, a river, the ocean, the rain, and in the songs that creation literally sings.
Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Creation was made through Jesus Christ, and every square inch of creation contains the fingerprint of its maker, the Son.
In the same way that we did with Light, we can look at what water is and see characteristics of Jesus. Water is a source of life. It's a requirement for virtually all living things on this planet. Life thrives in and around water, and water attracts all sorts of life to it. You just have to go to my parents' back yard, walk down the hill, and sit by the creek quietly for 15 minutes to see it absolutely full of life -- sitting in that very spot I've seen fish, turtles, alligators, insects, squirrels, owls, hawks, and other birds.
Water is refreshing and satisfying. Water cleanses. Whether you wash yourself with it or drink it, it supports your health.
All of these things could be said about the Son of God, Jesus. He attracts life and life flourishes within Him. He cleanses. He provides clarity! (John 9:6-7 He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." So he went and washed, and came back seeing.) Jesus could have easily told this man "Be healed," and he would've been able to see. But Jesus wanted to reveal Himself in dynamic ways. I guarantee that for the rest of that man's life, he never washed his face again without being reminded of His savior. I guarantee the woman at the well never drew water again without thinking of her life-changing encounter with the source of Living Water.
John 4:10-13
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4:10-13
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Any time someone asks me these days what my favorite "story" from the Bible is, I mention this one. You have to read at least from verse 1 thru verse 30 of the chapter. The text is miles deep and rich with content.
"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst." We could discuss the implications of that verse for hours, so as usual, I'll be brief. Everything in this life leaves us wanting more. Every good thing in this world eventually leaves us unsatisfied and wanting more. One of my all-time favorite quotes is one by Albert Camus, and I wouldn't know of it had my pastor in SLC used it in one of the most powerful and important sermon series I've ever heard ("Unpacking the Hot Dog Buns"). The quote is actually quite bleak:
“Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.”
“Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.”
― Albert Camus
Everything in this life leaves us unsatisfied EXCEPT CHRIST. Not only does He give us something that lasts forever -- our salvation -- but He is an inexhaustible fountain that you can keep returning to over and over and over again for more life, love, wisdom, clarity, life, love, and more life. You can drink coffee and coke for a day or two, but eventually your body is going to shut down until you satisfy it with H2O. In the same way, your spirit cannot survive on anything but Him. Pushing through life, especially a "Christian" life, without regular drinks from Him actually feels like dehydration. When you're not plugged into Him -- when you're not drinking the Water -- you've got all this artificial energy that slowly begins to crumble, your brain function declines, your mood declines, etc. It's fascinating how our spiritual life can be so similar to physical life. Jesus has made it very easy to grasp Him and have relationship with Him, by imprinting His DNA and fingerprint onto everything that we see with our physical eyes.
Now today, remember Him each time you have an encounter with water :)
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