Part 1 of 2"Blessed is the man...Who passing through the valley of Baca makes it a well..." (Ps 84:5-6).
Blessed indeed! And why?
We saw recently that Jesus is likened to a vast well, the well of salvation, the perfect solution to a weary journey. But did you realize that these same qualities are to be worked in His sons too? It's true. Blessed is the man who passes through the valley of Baca ("weeping") and makes it a well!
Essentially, Jesus wants us to become such a well for others : "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal 4:19)! As we grow from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18), from strength to strength (Ps 84:7), from faith to faith (Rom 1:17), higher and higher (Song 2:14; Gen 28:12), being emptied of our own selves from vessel to vessel (Jer 48:11), we too are to demonstrate the same life-giving heart as our precious Lord - God's holy forerunner, King Jesus! Do you realize that? Of course men are not to pray to us, or worship us, that's nonsense. We are not the source, rather we're to lead men to the source, we lead men to the well! Men will be able to drink of the fruit of your life - men will be able to partake of the well that's been dug in you! Of the bride, Scripture tells us that she is "a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (Song 4:12), but will eventually be sustenance to the earth: "eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved" (Song 5:1). Reader, did you realize that Jesus wants us to become sustenance to the earth - a valid source of the life of God? Scripture repeatedly affirms this truth: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive..." (Jn 7:37-39). Of this man, Scripture tells us there will be a well formed within him: "whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (Jn 4:14). Eventually, we will become what we've been beholding!
But friends, as always, there is a counterfeit! There is an easy route, a pseudo-well that can be formed.. it's called a cistern: "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13). A cistern is a vessel that only momentarily HOLDS water, it cannot DISPENSE nor DISTRIBUTE water. Contrary to a well, it does not possess a life source within it, but must be filled and re-filled in order to be effective. A cistern is filled for it's own sake. This is why cisterns do not profit (Jer 2:11). A cistern's water soon turns stagnant, or dries up. However, a well has a source of water within it, and can be a perpetual source of life! Which would you rather be? Far too many Christians are cisterns, and not wells! They're in it for themselves, they're spiritually selfish! Which do you want to be? I want to become a well - a source of life-giving water!
But how can this ever be created in us? Simply said, a well must be dug! This is primarily why most Christians would rather be cisterns; maybe they're not willing to dig? Digging can be hard work. It comes at a great cost to your flesh! Notice the grueling process that Isaac went through as he dug and re-dug Abraham's wells: "For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth... And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar ["combat; dispute"] did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek ["contention"]; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah ["strife"]. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth ["wide spaces; roominess"]; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land" (Gen 26:15, 18-22).
Just keep digging, forsaking the Philistines (a type of the adversary, a constant threat to the people of God, striving to stop the flow of living water). Forsake combat and dispute, forsake contention, forsake strife! Just keep digging! Soon, we'll overcome (Gen 26:22)! "Rehoboth" means, "wide spaces, roominess".
When the nations are weary (Jn 4:6), can they come and drink of the fruit in your life? Can they partake of the victory and "roominess" you've attained to? Friends, this is what Jesus is after!
To be continued...
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