I think of the many episodes of Man Versus Wild where British survivor man Bear Grylls is in a situation that involves water. Often times Bear is jumping off a boat or out of helicopter into the ocean where he must risk his life swimming to land. When he isn't battling the wild seas, he is looking for water to drink since it is the most important commodity when surviving in the wild. Then there are other times where Bear sits in a spot and admires a commanding waterfall or a view of the never ending horizon over the ocean.
Water is a common theme in the bible as well. Water is used to describe chaos. It is used to describe peace. It is used to describe regret and danger. It is used to describe redemption and gladness. Jesus often used water to give people an image of what it looks like to believe and trust in him. Jesus calmed storms. He walked on water. He made vain attempts of fishing abundantly fruitful. Jesus took the dark attributes of the sea and made it good; nay, better than good. He made it miraculous, life giving, and nurturing.
There was this one time where Jesus approached a socially unapproachable woman at a well. She was a woman who lived as a reject who looked for love in all the wrong places. Jesus asks for a drink from the well. Her identity given to her by the world caused her to react in grief. Who would notice her? Who would dare speak to her? Jesus then offers her a drink, but not just any sort of drink. He offers her a drink from a well that will leave her thirsting no more, a drink that will forever satisfy, that will eternally fulfill.
There's a hymn I have been loving a lot lately. It's called River of Life. It's a bit of a cheesy one quite honestly. Hear me out, I didn't know it was so cheesy when I came across it. Phil Wickham does a version of it that's not cheesy, so that's what I think of when I hear this hymn playing through my head. Despite musical preference, the lyrics paint a beautiful picture of the drink from a different sort of well that Jesus offers the world - to you and me.
I've got a river of life flowing out of me!
Makes the lame to walk, and the blind to see.
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free!
I've got a river of life flowing out of me!
Spring up, O well, within my soul!
Spring up, O well, and make me whole!
Spring up, O well, and give to me
That life abundantly.
There's another story about a man named Isaac, who, one day, was lead by God to a land called Gerar. A group of people called the Philistines lived there and envied Isaac. Isaac was loved by God and was therefore richly blessed. Since the the men of Gerar envied Isaac and all he had, the king of the Philistines, Abimelech, commanded Isaac to leave. Isaac then wandered on into the Valley of Gerar. Long before this, Isaac's father, Abraham had made wells throughout the land. Since the death of Abraham, the Philistines had filled the wells up with earth so that they may not be used. Isaac, when wandering through the Valley, began to come across these wells, and he dug them up again so that they might be restored. The story can seem pretty bland, and it honestly continues on blandly.
Yet it has me thinking. How many of us have wells that are filled with earth keeping us from their waters? The world, filled with sin, held captive by Satan, does not want us to experience the adventure, the life abundant Jesus offers us. He doesn't want us to sit and enjoy the views of the endless horizon over the ocean. He doesn't want us to bask in the presence of commanding waterfalls. Sin causes us to wander this world as unloved rejects who are daily dumped into a chaotic ocean, who must travel all day every day looking for just a drink of some water. Our wells get filled up with earth.
If only we would daily dig up our wells and experience life to the fullest. We sit at the edge of a well dwelling in self pity - a pity the world tells us to sit in - when there is water that will cause us to never thirst again lying under the dirt waiting to be dug up.
Are your wells flowing or are they filled with dirt? Are you identifying yourself as rejected or as beloved.
The enemy wants to fill our wells with muck and grime, and the crazy thing is that he uses us to fill our own wells. He whispers lies and slander into our ears, and we choose to pick up handful after handful of dirt to put in our well.
We cannot make life abundant. Jesus does that, but we can choose to dig up our well or to fill up our well. Do you sit with Jesus and let him whisper his love to you? Or do you sit with the world and let it whisper its hate to you?
An adventurous life is a life daring to live as though it means something. It is to live as though it is loved. It is to live as though there is something to live for.
Dig up your wells, and receive a life abundant.
