A Closer Walk
A shower can be so refreshing. Climbing into the shower after a day of working outside, or exercising can be so refreshing. And we feel better afterwards. The rains shower the fields and crops, and they are refreshed by it. The rains also refresh the farm ponds as well as the creeks and rivers. All of which benefits the livestock, as well as us. In the Bible rain is often viewed as a blessing. In our neck of the woods most of our annual rainfall comes in the spring. So this is just in time for the wheat crop. Enough rain usually equals a good harvest. Not enough rain could equal a not so good harvest.
Jesus offers us “living water” and promises that with this water we will never thirst again. “There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink.' For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, 'How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 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,’” John 4:7-10 NASB. This water that our Savior speaks of is the water of everlasting life, which can only come from our Lord and Savior. “She said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?'...Jesus answered and said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life,’” John 4:11-14 NASB.
Eternal life. Life everlasting. This life that Jesus offers to us shall never end. It is eternal. Where or how may we avail ourselves of this “living water?” “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved,” Romans 10:9 NASB. This seems pretty simple and straightforward doesn't it? Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. We don't even need to get up off the couch to accomplish this. Our Heavenly Father never owes us an explanation for anything He does, but in this passage He chooses to give us one. “For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED,” Romans 10:10-13 NASB. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord WILL be saved.
Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God. Our Lord offers us salvation from Himself and His wrath. For a good example of God's wrath read Genesis 19 about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is even more helpful to read a chapter or two before that to see how they got into that position. This was their ending, “The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground,” Genesis 19:23-25 NASB.
To refresh ourselves we can take a shower. To refresh our spirits we can read the Word of God, our Bibles, and we can come into our Lord's presence at the Throne of Grace in prayer. We can appropriate “Living Water” from the fountain that never runs dry. Refreshing is good for our bodies, good for our minds, good for our mentality and attitude. We would be using wisdom and practicing sound judgment by partaking of what our God has already offered us.
Refreshing ourselves is good. Refreshing our whole self, body, mind, and spirit is even better.
“There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love; There shall be seasons refreshing, Sent from the Savior above. Refrain: Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need: Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys, Sound of abundance of rain. There shall be showers of blessing: Send them upon us, O Lord; Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come and now honor Thy Word. There shall be showers of blessing: Oh, that today they might fall, Now as to God we're confessing, Now as on Jesus we call! [Refrain] Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need: Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.” Words by Daniel Webster, 1840-1901, using the pseudonym D. W. Whittle, music by James McGranahan, 1840-1907.