Well, Well

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 25

Gold Nugget

Verse 26: A righteous man who falters before the wicked Is like a murky spring and a polluted well. 

Commentary

I remember when I was around 12 years old, my parents took us to some very old relatives in Tennessee. It was out in the country and I'm pretty sure they were still using outhouses. The thing I remember most is everyone being gathered around an old well out back. It wasn't like the ones I had seen in the cartoons with a wooden bucket over a hole several feet wide. It was actually a small hole with a rope coming out of the top. After reeling it up, out came a long stainless cylinder. I remember not being impressed with this effort. Also, I didn't see much value in unfiltered water from the dirty ground. That was until I had my turn to drink. Once the surprisingly cold, most delicious water I had ever drank hit my mouth, I understood the fuss over this effort. From that day forward and even until this moment, the thirstiest instances in my life were always gauged by the drink of water I had when I was 12 years old. After a long day of football practice, I would imagine that well water as I drank the lukewarm water shooting out of the pre-drilled holes of PVC pipe. Or the hot and humid days of southeast Texas during the hottest days of summer while I worked through breaks. All of these thirsty moments would bring me back to the best drink of water I ever had.

I never made it back to that well in Tennessee, but suppose I had and found it to be dirty and warm. It would (to some extent) ruin the precious memory and awesome effect it had on me. Even as I wrote this devotion, I had to take several drinks of my water when thinking of that experience so many years ago. Jesus described Himself as a well that would forever quench thirst. We are the continuation of His work. We all can be this well of life to someone along the way. When this happens, you will be remembered by that person like that cold drink of water from the well. Too often, those that God has used to bring life and quench the thirsty, end up polluting the well that was at one time pure and clean. Once God begins to use you, you must find it important to maintain holiness. Through Him, this can be done. 

Prayer

Lord, I needed to be reminded that at some time or another, you have used me to be a well of living water to someone. Help me to ensure that they would return to the same. Amen

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