There is a wonderful well in my memory. It was down an old brick pathway at my childhood home. I have never tasted such sweet water since. Sweet and intensely cold. It slaked many a thirst on a hot summer day! The water never failed, even in the hottest and driest summers. We never had to prime that well. Two pumps and it’s sweetness gushed forth, overflowing the old tin dipper.
Sometimes Dad would remove the old wood top and clean the well. I would hang over the edge and look into it’s glistening throat, it’s cool air rushing upward into my face.
The brick walls were covered with moss—but no matter! I believe the moss gave that wonderful well it’s distinctive flavor.
Now the family has city water, and the old well is no longer used, though the children would never let him fill it in.
In Bible times, the well was a gathering place for townspeople and shepherds with their flocks. It was a place of refreshment and rest.
Have you ever seen the desert? I have not, but there have been times when I experienced the “Desert of the Spirit.” And sorely needed the renewing experience of a spiritual well. It is a part of life we all understand. How the dust creeps in!
The noonday sun shines upon us with cruelty. And there seems no relief anywhere. Our hearts cry out to God to remove us from this desolate place. And to have mercy upon us. None of us wants to go through those dry places.
When the desert experience presents itself, we look to Jesus who called Himself “the Living Water.”
There IS a way to live in the desert. Psalm 84:6 suggests that we make living wells of it. “Who passing through the Valley of Baca (desert) make it a well.” Nobody really wants to go through Baca, yet when we must we can make the desert a well for others on the pathway with us.
We are not alone in the desert. The “living water” is no mirage.
Once we taste it, we never get enough of Him. Yet He quenches our thirst day by day.
Thoughts From the Garden 