Water, Water ...

How have you coped with the extremely high temperatures this last week or so?   It was nice to have sunshine during much of the lock-down period, but many of my friends have opined that the last few days have been a bit too hot, and for longer than they would have liked.  My mind went back to the songs of a former age and I thought, "The green, green grass of home" ... is turning white!  By the time the inevitable storms came, some no doubt were ready to run out into the torrents to celebrate, but I was happy to stand at the open window and inhale the wonderful fresh smell of the rain, glad that the day ahead would be more bearable.

Water is indispensable to life, of course.  If you've read the excellent historical novel, Cat and Mouse by Tim Vicary, you'll know that it contains vivid descriptions of a suffragette on hunger strike, who decided to stop drinking to add to her protest.  Aching limbs, headaches and spots before the eyes featured in the experience described and the woman was warned that, should she carry on this way, death would shortly follow.

John's gospel tells of an encounter between Jesus and a woman beside a well.  There's no question of this woman being in such a dire condition.  No doubt it was her daily habit to collect water at the well and she probably had good reasons for choosing to come in the heat of the day despite the exertion required to carry the water back home.  Her visit on that day, however, was far more productive than she had expected.  Jesus challenged the cultural differences between them by asking for a drink.  His next comment completely threw her as he offered her 'living water', in contrast to the water she gave him that she had just drawn.

He pointed out that, after drinking the water from the well, people would in time be thirsty again; what he offered was what Isaiah had spoken about centuries earlier: "I [i.e. God] will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants." (Isa. 44:3).

What Jesus described as "a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13) was nothing less than God's Holy Spirit, which Paul later described as a 'down payment' (the 'earnest' or 'guarantee') of the eternal life that is ours when we believe (Ephesians 1:14).

Next time you think, 'I could do with a drink,' ask yourself if you are also in need of Living Water.

Knowing Me, Knowing You ...

Many years ago, there was a TV game show called 'Mr & Mrs'.  Couples competed against each other to show how well husband knew wife and vice versa.  Each couple in their turn would be divided, one going to a sound-proof booth while the other faced questions about how their partner would react to specific comments or situations.  The 'silenced one' would then be released and asked the same questions, with the number of questions that got the same answer from each partner determining that couple's score.

A few days ago, I did something foolish and told myself off under my breath, using words that my father would have used had he caught me in that situation.  It wasn't a phrase that I would normally use and I started reminiscing about our respective vocabularies. (And that, incidentally, is a word he would never have used: he would probably have said 'the way we speak'.)  Each of us has our own vocabulary, assembled from what we hear or read day by day as we grow in age and experience.  I recognise words that my father would or would not have said because he was part of my life every day for more than twenty years.

These two examples illustrate the profound link between love and knowledge (that's knowing in the sense of intimate awareness).  A winning couple in the game would have shown the deep understanding of each other that could only come from true love; the fact that I still recall my father's words over thirty years after his death is an indication of how special he was to me in his life and still is today.

I invite you to look with me at Psalm 139.  It tells of a knowledge that is beyond our understanding (v.6) and a presence that is greater in its compass that is barely matched by the most modern of technologies (v.7 ff).  This is explained by a depth of intimacy far exceeding that of a human parent (v.13-16) and gives rise to the loyalty that matches the fiercest that we could expect within human families (v.19-22).  How do we react to such love?  Surely all we can do is to seek our own improvement (v.23-24), seek to know Him more and nestle into our heavenly Father's warm embrace.

These verses show the depth and intensity of God's love for us, the greatest expression of which was the gift of Jesus.  The significance of that gift is, for me, summed up by the words of Stuart Townend's hymn, How deep the Father's love for us, which you can hear here.  

It never cease to amazed me how the Psalms, though written thousands of years ago and couched in ways of life and cultures now long gone, reflect situations and relationships that are just as relevant to our lives in the twenty-first century.  

Which is your favourite Psalm?