Running on Empty?

The heat last week was difficult to bear.  I sympathize with those who must work outside in one-hundred-degree weather.  Hot and humid weather is hard on everybody and on everything.  It drains and exhausts you.   

Mary is watering our flowers, shrubs, and garden slowly, and carefully. We never know when our well might go dry. 

A well pump can’t run very long on empty, it’s motor will burn out.  As a matter of fact, nothing can run on empty and not be the worse for it.  People and wells have much in common.

There is a constant outflow in our lives. We’ve been encouraged to “give until it hurts,” and so we have.  There can come a crucial moment when we realize we can’t give any more.  We are depleted. We become deflated and desperately dry.  There is not much left in our spiritual well and we dare not waste a single drop.  We thirst!  We desperately begin to pray for rain.  We’re not praying for a spritz, we are praying for an absolute deluge.   

Right now, Americans are desperately thirsty. Our wells are going dry. 

Did you ever get genuinely thirsty? When Mary and I were in Russia, we were told, “Absolutely whatever you do, don’t drink the water.” “Don’t drink the water?” 

We bought some bottled water, and we held it up to the light, and there were little black specks floating around in the water. We ended up brushing our teeth and rinsing our mouths out with bottled Pepsi Cola. That was the best that we could do. The Pepsi might not have  been any cleaner, but we couldn’t see any black specks.  

In an attempt to assuage our thirst we resorted to drinking cups of hot tea made from water that had been boiled. It helped a little, but not much.  We longed for a big glass of ice water.

It could be that you are reading this during a personal dry spell.  The well of your life may be nearly empty, and your motor on the verge of burning out.  

Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:38-39). 

Are you running on empty?  Look to Jesus. The streams of living water He gives will be more than enough for you and the extra will not be wasted.  I mean, the water Jesus gives is going to splash out of you onto other people! Not only are you going to be satisfied, but those who draw from your supernatural well are going to be satisfied, too.

King David got it right in Psalm 42:1. He had experienced plenty of spiritual dryness in his life.  He said, “I want you God, like a deer who is panting, thirsting for water.”  

I am thirsty for God, too.