All My Springs are in Christ

I awoke this morning with the last sentence of Psalm 87 in my mind:  "All my springs are in you."  In this song the sons of Korah wrote to proclaim the glory of God in the place of His habitation:  Jerusalem, the city where God had placed his name and the temple was built.  To say you were born in Jerusalem and numbered among God's people was a great blessing, a testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness.

The song concludes, "All my springs are in you."  The city of Jerusalem boasts the Gihon spring which continues to send forth clear, clean water directed through Hezekiah's Tunnel to this day.  The flow of this spring was vital to sustain the lives of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and it was God who caused that living water to flow in a dry land.  The words of the psalmists have a double meaning, as they acknowledged their reliance upon the spring for water and upon God who sustained their lives by His mercy, goodness and His covenant with them.

From a New Testament perspective, our understanding of this truth blossoms with the revelation of Jesus Christ who gives the Living Water of the Holy Spirit to all who trust in Him.  Jesus did not tout the benefits of being born or raised in Jerusalem but in those who are born again, for out of these will flow living water that springs up into eternal life.  During the feast of Sukkot Jesus cried out in Jerusalem in John 7:37-39:  "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." ³⁹ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."  The thirsty would not find their spiritual thirst quenched with the water from the Gihon spring, nor from attempts to keep the Law of Moses:  it was by faith in Jesus according to the new covenant in Christ's blood which provided assurance of eternal life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How true it is that all our springs are in God!  He is our source of life, wisdom and righteousness; He is our only means of fruitfulness and satisfaction for our souls.  All we need for life and godliness springs from Jesus Christ Himself, for He is the sole source of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit.  From Jesus we receive the pure, refreshing, life and soul-sustaining Holy Spirit by God's grace, mercy and truth.  There is nothing man, animal or angel can add to this divine source, for all our springs are in God.  All that is good, refreshing, fruitful, satisfying and glorious comes from God alone, and praise God He is preparing a place for us to be with Him forever in glory in New Jerusalem.  All our springs are in our glorious Saviour, and so they will always be.

The Breakthrough of Spontaneity

I recently listened to a sermon on Mark 2, the passage where a paralytic was carried by four friends to Jesus.  It had been widely proclaimed Jesus was in a house in Capernaum and thus many people flocked to hear Him preach the word of God.  It was so crowded people could not even make their way near the door.  Mark 2:4-5 says, "And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."

With divine insight Jesus looked through the dust and din and observed the faith of these men who removed the roof to bring their friend to Jesus.  It is very likely Jesus recognised the faith of the paralytic in Him as well, for he may have urged them in his desperation for healing.  It occurred to me as I considered this passage what a fitting picture it is of the church:  to bring people to a personal encounter with Jesus.  In applying the passage personally I pictured myself as one of the four men who broke through to lower their friend to Jesus; I saw myself as the paralysed man who desired to draw near to Jesus to overcome his weakness and lack of feeling.  If the ministry of the church seems frail and paralysed, wouldn't it be appropriate to bring it before the LORD with humility and faith in prayer?

It was faith in Jesus that motivated the men to united action to bring the paralysed man to Him.  They obviously cared for the man enough to lug him through a crowded space, somehow clamber up onto the roof, and get their hands dirty to remove enough roofing material to make room to lower their friend.  It was a united, team effort that was undeterred by obstacles or social norms, a willingness to do whatever they could to give their friend an audience with the LORD.  What struck me most of all was the spontaneity of their actions.  This was not something they had rehearsed several times and waited for there to be a crowd large enough to justify ripping a roof apart.  It was all done on the fly:  they brought the man on the bed but needed to source ropes, discussed the means to carefully carry their friend up, worked together to lower him down, and likely helped put the roof back together.

This passage taught me this sort of spontaneity to bring people to Jesus can be sorely lacking in my life and ministry of the church.  Ministry is stunted when people are not led by faith in Jesus, by divisions, people going off on their own agendas apart from Jesus, and unwillingness to get their hands dirty to bring people to Him.  It is easy to unite at a certain time, place or for an activity, but the real challenge is to remain led by faith in Jesus Christ to bring people to Him when difficult obstacles stand in the way.  The faith of these men in Jesus to heal their friend--and even to forgive his sins--moved them to meet challenges together with united effort.  A breakthrough was needed, and their eyes were opened to an opportunity others never even considered which resulted in forgiveness, healing and new life.

It wasn't the activity of breaking through roofs and lowering people to Jesus that is the main point.  This did not become a formula to seek healing or forgiveness.  The point is faith in Jesus Christ moves people to unite in our efforts to bring people to Him even when it means work, is costly and we are on the hook for repairs.  Faith in Jesus results in spontaneous efforts to bring people to Him so they too can walk by faith in obedience to Him.  Having been adopted into the family of God, our sins forgiven, we are to walk in the truth of the Gospel to glorify our LORD and Saviour Jesus.  We are to be united in fellowship with Christians, working together (in person!) to bring people to Jesus because we love and trust Him.

Grace Changes Everything

How wondrous is our glorious God and the grace He extends to those who seek Him!  Knowing God loves us and is for us changes forever the way we approach Him and strengthens us to stand.  A great illustration of how God's grace ought to provide boldness to draw near to God and commune with Him is seen in the book of Esther in the interactions between king Ahasuerus and queen Esther.

In the law of the Medes and Persians it was illegal (punishable by death!) to appear before the king without first being summoned, yet there was a caveat provided for all to whom he reached out the golden sceptre.  Queen Esther, after three days of fasting from food and water, approached the king knowing her life hung in the balance.  How relieved she must have been when she found grace in his eyes and he extended life to her when he held up the sceptre.  This began a chain of events which led to exposing wicked Haman as the enemy of the Jews who was promptly executed for his crimes--hung on the gallows he had built to hang Mordecai the Jew who was promoted to Haman's prior role.

See what happened next in Esther 8:3-4:  "Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king..."  Haman had been executed, but his devious legislation which commanded the annihilation of the Jews remained.  Esther fell at the feet of the king with tears, begging he act against the edict written to destroy the children of Israel.  Then the king held out the golden sceptre, extending grace towards her.  Esther rose to her feet and asked her petition of the king, having received his favour.

Isn't this a beautiful scene when we consider the grace God has extended to us through Jesus Christ?  John 1:17 says, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  God has always been gracious and faithfully extended it to mankind, but Jesus brought a fresh revelation of grace we receive through the Gospel that enables us to stand before the presence of the Father with exceeding joy, boldly bringing our petitions before Him.  We could never earn such a privilege, yet we have received it by faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-2, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."  Wow!

Esther fell down at the feet of the king and wept, and I imagine her tears were quickly wiped away when she realised she had the favour of the king and had been heard.  The law written by Haman could not be undone, but a new command was given to all the lands that counteracted it beautifully--so well in fact that many people chose to convert and become Jews!  The spiritual law that says a soul that sins must die cannot be undone, but God by His grace has provided a new covenant that is sealed with the blood of Jesus who died so we can be justified by faith in Him.  It is no wonder Jesus promises to wipe every tear from our eyes because He has been gracious to us, and we have been heard by our almighty heavenly Father who has compassion on us.  God's grace changes everything.

Agreement With God

As I was preparing for this week's message, it occurred to me at times the only place of agreement we can find on some matters with opinionated people is to "agree to disagree."  This certainly is never our preference, for we would much rather have people see things like we do.  What may come as a shock to us is we can also have this approach toward God who says and does things we do not understand.  Like Job who suffered great pain and loss, we can question why God would allow such things, wonder if God has made a mistake and doubt His wisdom.

When we agree to disagree with people, it is often to keep things civil between two parties.  Having agreed to disagree we do not bother bringing up the touchy topic anymore in consideration of the feelings of the other party.  We agree to disagree because we value the other person more than the point we want to make.  We might even do so because we have to, otherwise it will prove so divisive any lingering discussion on the topic will lead to quarrels and damage the friendship.  Imagine, that we would agree to disagree with God, that we would choose to remain at odds with Him over pains in our past only He can heal and redeem.

We might be content at times to agree to disagree with God, but He is not content for us to remain in that posture.  Being our Maker, heavenly Father and King, we can only enter into the joy of the LORD and experience His peace when we submit to Him in faith.  He loves us and welcomes our questions; He desires we pour out our hearts to Him in desperation for help.  But we always must remember He is God, and He is good and faithful.  Our disagreement can come from ignorance, like when Peter argued with Jesus that crucifixion was not God's plan.  Jesus rebuked Peter publicly in Matthew 16:23:  "But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  Can you imagine Peter responding, "Well, I guess we will have to agree to disagree."  Imagine saying that to our LORD!  As unbelievable as it may seem, we can do this very thing.  We think God should have given us that spiritual gift by now or our prayers should have been answered, and a little bit of resentment and bitterness begins to grow.

How grateful I am for the longsuffering and patience of God with us weak, short-sighted servants!  Even when we forget God and all He has promised, He smiles upon us with grace, mercy and compassion.  He knows what we are going through and all He intends to accomplish through situations we cannot appreciate or understand.  Blessed is the one who submits to God with their whole heart, for this is the only posture that agrees with God as we ought.  As long as we agree to disagree it is not God's problem with us, but our problem with Him because our minds are stubbornly made up.  This disconnect in relationship is only restored through repentance and simple faith in God who has spoken in His word, through Jesus Christ in these last days and the Holy Spirit.  Let us lay aside our preconceived ideas of what God should do or should have done and rejoice in Him Who is holy.  Our God is the awesome, living God Who loves and is worthy of all glory and praise.