“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3)
My Old Testament reading for today took me to this verse in Isaiah. As I read it, I was reminded of being at a Communion Service which was being led by a rather brash American minister. As he broke the bread, (he had a large uncut loaf, not wafers or small squares of bread) he held up a large chunk and said “take a large chunk of the grace of God.” He said that he didn’t like to see the plate coming back with a large amount of the bread still on it. He was, of course, using the Communion Service as an illustration of the Christian life. He was proclaiming a truth, that God’s grace is infinite, and that our Christian lives seem sometimes to be only nibbling at the edges, rather than enjoying the abundance, the fullness of what Jesus has to offer.
Let us drink deep at the waters of salvation. Last week, as I was shifting paving stones from the front garden to the back garden in the heat of the sun, I started to feel thirsty. I went and got a pint glass, filled it with water, drank the lot and poured myself another. That is the picture. We do not need to take small sips. The water of life is not rationed, the tap will never run dry. Let us drink deep of the waters of salvation. Let us know the joy of the Lord, let us make known among the nations the great things he has done, let us exalt his name and sing of his glory. Draw from the well, quench your spiritual thirst, and then drink again and again.
In the words of the apostle Paul’s prayer: “May we have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”.