Drinking from the Right Stream
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” – Isaiah 43:2
There’s a story about a seminary professor who was known for his tremendous study habits. Not only did he do all the normal work to prepare for and teach his classes, but he also got up early and stayed up late to read the latest articles and books and do extra study in the scriptures.
“What keeps you studying?” a student asked him one day. “You never seem to stop.”
“Son,” the professor said, “I would rather have my students drink from a running stream than a stagnant pool.”
Howard Hendricks, a longtime theology professor, used that story in one of his books (Teaching to Change) and often quoted the punchline to his students. Most of all, he was known for living out that commitment to lifelong learning, and he was always offering new information and insights to his students.
I love that anecdote because it reminds me of my need to drink from a running stream and my obligation, as a man of God, to be a running stream from which others might drink.
This, I believe, is part of our call to Biblical manhood, so let’s take a closer look at two bodies of water that help illuminate the point.
Stream A: The manmade waterfall
Several years ago my wife and I moved into a new home in Northwest Arkansas, and one of us thought it would be nice to have a waterfall feature in our backyard. The other went along, singing a line from Al Green in his head (“Whatever you want to do … is all right with me-e-e-e-e”).
We made some calls and got some bids from landscape companies, but it quickly became as clear as fresh-blown glass that we’d have to take out a large loan if we were going to pay someone else to build it. One of us figured that was the end of this particular dream. Then the other said, “We should just build it ourselves!” The line from Al Green returned to his head, and off to work we went.
One of us supervised the design and construction, while the other dug and dug and dug into the rock-filled Ozark Mountains, until there was a considerable hole in the yard (approximately five-feet wide, eight-feet long, four-feet deep). Then the digger carved out a small trench for a stream that would feed the pond.
Rocks of all sizes were excavated, while others were strategically placed, based on well-researched instructions from Google and YouTube. Tarps, an upper basin, a fountain, and a pump were added. Eventually, about 12 feet of buried tubing connected the pump in the larger pond with the upper basin.
A border of moss-covered stones, collected from the nearby woods by one of us (and at the direction of the other), surrounded the entire water feature, and a gently flowing stream soon rolled over imported pebbles and cascaded into the pond.
It was pretty to look at, and it was relaxing to hear the flowing water. But in addition to the standard maintenance like keeping the pump clean and operational, one of us ended up spending several days each year searching for and repairing the inevitable leaks and correcting unseen changes to the water’s prescribed path.
When the pond leaked, the pump was turned off and the water didn’t flow. And when the water didn’t flow, the peaceful, tranquil water feature transformed into a headache-inducing mosquito habitat.
Stream B: The living water
The prophet Ezekiel describes a vision in which God shows him water flowing from underneath the temple. What began as a trickle turned into an ankle-deep stream that soon became knee-deep, waist-deep, and then so deep and wide that no one could swim across it.
Take a moment to re-read Ezekiel 47:1-12 for the full picture, but here’s the short version: The water flows into the Dead Sea and its salty water becomes fresh. In fact, wherever the river flows, everything lives. There are all sorts of fish in the water and fruit trees on both sides that never wither and always provide sustenance and healing. But the swamps and marshes are left for salt.
Now consider the words of Jesus.
John 4:13-14 (to the Samaritan woman at the well) – “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
John 7:37-39 – “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Our Challenge
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” – Jeremiah 2:13
We are, of course, prone to live like the water feature that I so poorly constructed at our former home. We do things on our own when we should enlist help. The results might seem good but eventually we fail. We leak. We become stagnant like a marsh or swamp. We invite pests that suck the blood and life out of us.
When we drink from the living water that is our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, however, two powerful things take place:
One, we are transformed and made whole so that we thrive and experience peace and joy.
Two, we bear fruit that blesses those around us. We provide life-sustaining sustenance to our friends and family.
I can think of no better example from scripture than Simon Peter. When he drank and lived from the stagnant pool of his own strength, Peter nearly drowned in a lake (Matthew 14:30), cut a man’s ear off (John 18:10), and denied Christ three times (Luke 22:54-62).
When he drank and lived from the Living Stream, Peter walked on water (Matthew14:29), preached Jesus boldly to the masses (Acts 2:14-21), healed the sick (Acts 3:6-7), stood courageously before the religious leaders who opposed him (Acts 4:8-12), and willingly gave his life for the sake of the kingdom of God.
So, some parting advice. Sit by the Living Stream. Soak in the Living Stream. Drink from the Living Stream. Live from the Living Stream. And, oh yeah, don’t build a waterfall in your backyard unless you know what you’re doing.