Water for Our Wilderness

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John 

July 31, 2024

Water for Our Wilderness

“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!

Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!”

John  7:37-38

Jesus spoke chilling words to the Pharisees: “you cannot go where I am going” (John 7:34b). Jesus’ words to the Pharisees stand in sharp contrast to the encouragement he provided his disciples a few months later: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:1-4).

Many among the crowds at the Temple when Jesus was speaking believed in him. (John 7:31a) Many believed, but not all believed, and so it is today. Pray that your faith in Jesus will become an inviting witness in your environment, especially to those who may be in danger of hearing Jesus’ chilling words, “you cannot go where I am going.”

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Festival of Shelters, which was a memorial to honor the time the Israelites spent following Moses through the wilderness. The wilderness was arid, and there was always a desperate need for water. The liturgy of the Festival included many prayers for water. Those in attendance certainly would have been intrigued by Jesus’ offer: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!” (John 7:37-38).

My Takeaway: The more we own the truth of our own wilderness experience apart from being reconciled to God, the more we are desperate to drink from Jesus’ well of living water. As we own our own wilderness experiences, let us recall with gladness Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14). 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.