Like much of the United States, we are experiencing some very hot, dry weather with highs each day between 90 and 100 and often a hot wind to go with the heat.  One of the challenges during such heat spells is keeping hydrated, and keeping your pets and “livestock” hydrated.  In our case, our “livestock” consists of our residential whitetail deer population and some 24 honey bee hives.  We have a five-gallon bucket for the deer which we fill daily and we have five different sources of water for our honey bees.  Several of those sources we have to check on every couple hours. Some of the water obviously evaporates, but bees can go through an amazing amount of water on these hot days.  

     A little research told me that a strong hive of 60,000 to 80,000 bees (and we have 24 hives) on a hot day can consume more than a quart of water and that most of the worker bees make up to 50 trips a day for water. Of course we have to make our water sources safe for bees so they don’t drown trying to get a drink. If they end up on open water, like in a pool, they can’t take off. They need something to stand on while they get their drinks.  

     As I witness the need of the deer and bees for water in order to survive the heat, I can’t help but think about what God’s Word says about our need for water and what the source is.  Probably one of the most familiar such passages in the Old Testament is Psa. 42:1,2 which reads: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God…”  In Psa. 36, David, against a backdrop of the evil schemes of wicked men (vv. 1-4), voices praise in a description of the attributes of God working on behalf of man’s salvation (vv. 5-9) and providing a place of refuge where man can “drink their fill of the abundance of Thy house; and You give them drink from the Your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life…” (vv, 8,9). 

     In Isa.41:17-18,  we read of God’s promises to supply the needs of His people as they returned to their land after captivity in Babylon. They are described as  “afflicted and needy” and “seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst; I the LORD will answer them, and I, the God of Israel I will not forsake them. I will open the rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land fountains of water.”  The passage not only promises a physical blessing to those returning from captivity, but looks even further to the future millennial reign of the Messiah on earth and the spiritual quenching the Jews will experience, when “All Israel will be saved” (Ro. 11:26).  God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel about that time of refreshing, saying:  “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone…and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezek. 36:26,27).

     In the New Testament, we have the familiar story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman meeting at a well at midday. He asked her for a drink (which we don’t know if He ever got!) and then offered her “living water” (Jn. 4:10), explaining, “Everyone who drinks of this water (from thewell) shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life (vv. 13,14).  She obviously had a need for more than the physical water from the well. Her soul was thirsty. Her lifestyle had left her empty. Her condition was like God’s description of Israel: “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).  The Samaritan woman’s life was transformed that day and, in her excitement, she left her waterpot and ran back to the village to share what had transpired. Many believed because of her testimony and many others went out to hear Jesus in person and also believed  (Jn. 4: 28-42).  

     Later, Jesus was at the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) in Jerusalem. For seven days the people lived in booths made of boughs to commemorate their time wandering in the wilderness and dwelling in tents. For the first seven days of the eight-day festival, the priest would take water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out in the temple courts, reminding the Jews of the miraculous provision of water God provided for them in the wilderness. On the eighth day of the feast, the priest did not pour out water to indicate the Jews were waiting for a time of refreshing when their Messiah would come to establish His kingdom.  “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'(cf Isa. 55:1). But this He spoke of the Holy Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive…” (Jn. 7:37-39).

     To thirsty souls, Jesus offers living water. We were all created with a need for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and no matter what else we do to “quench our thirst,” it will not ultimately satisfy. But when we put our trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, like the woman at the well, we experience the new birth as the Holy Spirit comes to regenerate and indwell us, and to provide eternal life.  We will finally fill that void that only He can fill. Only Jesus can save and satisfy that longing in our heart.  Have you come to the “Fountain of Life ” to drink? Here’s Jesus’ final offer in the last book of written revelation: “I, Jesus, have sent My holy angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.  And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost”

(Rev. 22:16,17). 

Come and drink!

Forever His,

Pastor Dave…. Time to go “water the bees”! (and, yes, technically they are livestock!)