Living Water

When I was a child, I worried about all the water running out of the rivers and into the oceans. First, I worried that the rivers would run out of water. Then, I worried that the oceans would fill up and flood over the land.

If you think about it, my worries were logical. How do the rivers keep running so long? (The Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East are even mentioned in the Garden of Eden). And, since all rivers flow into the oceans, why don't the oceans fill up and flood our land? "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again" (Ecclesiastes 1:7).

Our Creator invented a wonderful water cycle. The sun's rays heat and evaporate the ocean surfaces into gaseous vapors that rise into the upper air currents; then, the cloudy formations float over thirsty lands, condense, and fall back down as rain, hail or snow. This water cycle provides life for every living thing on earth! But how did God figure this out?

Can you imagine the two of us sitting down at your kitchen table to create a world water recipe? How do we determine how much ocean water we need for evaporation? We must consider ground water reservoirs in the equation. How much do we need for our planet's creatures and foliage? Aside from practical aspects like cooking, cleaning and drinking, we need some fun water for skiing, skating, white-water rafting and remote waterfalls. We also need to maintain the ocean level contract as described in Job 38:8-11. God asked Job, "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?"

God's ways are perfect. As I've mentioned in previous articles, I am sharing thoughts from my book, Walking with the Creator, which consists of nine lessons from the first three chapters of Genesis. When I felt spiritually and emotionally broken, I cried out to God for help to go on. He graciously replied, "Look at who I am." The Bible tells us that we can see His character and nature by looking at what He made (Romans 1:20).

He made a perfect physical world to show us His ways. God said, "Let there be light." We cannot live physically without light. We cannot live spiritually without Jesus, the Light of the world.

God then divided the waters. We cannot live physically without water. Jesus invites us to come to Him when we thirst. "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:37–38).

On the Day of Pentecost, the promised streams of living water began to flow as Isaiah had prophesied: "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams" (Isaiah 44:3–4).

The living water Jesus promises for our spiritual journey is even surer than the rivers that run into the seas.

Sue Carlisle grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. An enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, her passion is to encourage people to look at creation and see our awesome Creator. Sue is author of Walking with the Creator Along the Narrow Road (2013 Indian Life Books). She and her husband, Wes, now live in Thunder Bay, Ontario.