The three kings: Israel, Judah and Edom, were in an alliance against the forces of Moab. But in route to the battle, they found no water for their forces and they were discouraged and losing heart. They sought the will of the Lord by seeking out Elisha. Elisha respected the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and therefore prophesied that there would be no rain and yet they would find a stream of water in the desert to provide refreshment for the troops. The water appeared to flow from nowhere and fill all the streams and the pools just as Elisha said. Then Elisha said “This is a small thing for the Lord.”
Streams of living water in a dry wilderness are one of God’s specialties. I believe Jesus was alluding to this story when he stopped at a well in Samaria in John chapter 4. He took time to talk to a woman whose life was filled with unsatisfying relationships. He knew she lived in a dry wilderness and needed some true refreshment. She came to find natural water to satisfy a physical thirst. Jesus offered her much more. Jesus offered her spiritual water that would satisfy her deepest longings in life. But she saw no means through which this man could supply water for her. She was puzzled by this weird offer and chose to drink from the well. Jesus said, “Go ahead. But anyone drinking from the wells of the world will thirst again, for sinful pleasures never satisfy. But just a single drink from the springs of “living water” of which Christ spoke eliminates spiritual thirst forever. Its source, like the source of Elisha’s springs in the wilderness, is supernatural.
Elisha’s water gushed forth and filled the streams and ponds and provided the refreshment for the troops to win the battles before them. Jesus’ water pours forth from His Spirit into our lives to fill the emptiness in the areas that need it most. Jesus then added that one who drinks from His spring shall “never thirst.” He said this in a very emphatic way. He repeated the idea of “will not” to make his point. The one who drinks his water will in no way, ever thirst for any other spiritual refreshment again.
Streams of living water in the wilderness of our lives are “a small thing to God.”
Chuck
“But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.” 1 Thessalonians 4:9