Fresh Water

A few years ago I was on a mountain hike with a friend. It was just a one-day trip, but we had our packs filled with food and water. The weather was perfect and the trail was not too challenging. The view at the top was gorgeous!

This was not a tourist hike with restaurants and snack shops along the way. We were the only ones on the trail that day.

We ate our lunch at the top, enjoyed the break and a drink of water. It satisfied for a while, but we still had to make it down the mountain.

On our way up, we had passed a small waterfall with cool, clear water. At that time, we rested there and rinsed off our hands and faces.

But the way back down was different. We knew that waterfall was there. And the water in our bottles was depleting. What was left was lukewarm.

About half-way down, our search for that cool, refreshing waterfall was our motivation. We were on the right trail and headed the right direction, but it seemed like it was further down the mountain than we remembered. Just around the next curve. Across that other path. Past that cliff.

It had to be there.

And it was.

We got there and began drinking from the waterfall. So refreshing! So cool!

We dumped out the warm water from our bottles and filled it with the fresh water for the rest of our trek.

Which was better? The lukewarm tap water from the bottles, or the cool fresh water from the waterfall?

Obviously, the cool fresh water. It was still cool a couple of hours later when we came by it the second time. There was still plenty of it there. It's probably still flowing today with fresh cool water.

Read what God said to His People:

"Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
Be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,
For my people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water"
(Jeremiah 2:12-13)

Rather than drinking from the cool, flowing waterfall, they chose to drink the lukewarm tap water.

We do the same. Every time we choose to search for satisfaction in anything other than God.

When we try to find fulfillment in our relationships, we're drinking lukewarm tap water.

When we try to find satisfaction in our job, we're drinking lukewarm tap water.

When we try to find satisfaction in our ministry, we're drinking lukewarm tap water.

We try to bottle up that satisfaction from a good day's work, or a healthy marriage, or a great day of fellowship.

But eventually, that satisfaction gets lukewarm and stale.

Rather than seeking satisfaction in other things, we need to find satisfaction in God, the cool, refreshing waterfall. He'll never get lukewarm. He'll never get stale. He'll never run out. He'll always satisfy.

And when we're satisfied with the cool water, we won't be disappointed.