The subdivision where we live has irrigation water. The snow melts, fills the lakes and dams where it is funneled into canals that cross the Treasure Valley. Depending upon location, farmers and homes have access to this water to irrigate crops and yards. Our subdivision has irrigation water. It usually begins to flow in April and ends in October.
Every year my husband eagerly awaits the filling of those canals so that he can plant his garden and flowers and water his lawn. That water is a wonderful blessing to him.
Water in the Bible is symbolic of many things. It symbolizes life and growth both physically and spiritually. It also symbolizes the Word of God and highlights its life-giving power. That is why the declaration found in Jeremiah 2:13 is so heartbreaking. “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” [NLT]
Christians must always cling to two values. The first is that we believe the Bible to be the true word of God and no matter how unpopular that view is, we uphold it. Truth doesn’t change just because you don’t agree with it! The second is that Jesus ministered and fellowshipped with sinners, and in the end, we are those sinners now saved by grace.
The tension in our lives will be where those two values meet. To hold to the truth and love those who don’t is never easy. Yet that is absolutely necessary if we want to live like Jesus.
