In May of 1989 my family and I woke up to the sound of mortar blasts, and rocket launchers in our back yard. It was a great spot for the government soldiers because of the cliff overlooking the other side of the city, where rebel soldiers occupied.

When we left our home that day, we came across many displaced people who had been without food and water for many weeks. The fighting was intense and life as we knew it, came to a stop.

We had no idea what life would look like the next few weeks with less food and no source of safe drinking water. By the time we hit the second week on the run, we began to realize how important water is.

Vital organs began to shut down because of dehydration. Skin began to get clammy. Coherent thoughts began to vanish. As we struggle to find safe drinking water, our mouths became dry; our heads ached and our Knees became weak. Sadly, many others fell by the roadside for lack of water.

There are a lot of people in our world dying spiritually, because they lack the life-giving Spirit, flowing in their hearts. Jesus gave an invitation to us in John chapter 7. He said, “if anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink.” It is an invitation heralded by prophets of old. Isaiah 55: 1 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.”

In the Bible, water is a very rich symbol. God himself is “the spring of living waters in Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13. The point here is, God alone can satisfy the soul of man. As he “draws water from the well of salvation,” he finds exceeding Joy. Isaiah 12:3

I love the way John connects the different references of water in his book and ties them to Jesus. In chapter 2, we find water turned into wine. In chapter 3, we find the water of the new birth. In chapter 4, we find the invitation to drink living waters. In chapter 5, we find the cleansing waters of Bethesda. In chapter 6, we find the calming of waters. Make no mistake, all these references speak of the fact that only Jesus is able to satisfy the hunger and thirst of a lost dying world.

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink” is an invitation to those who understand the human condition. We are “poor in Spirit.” We are dry and weary; empty and heavy laden. Jesus offers to fill us up with eternal life, if we would simply “believe in Him.”

Will you come and drink? Jesus gives rivers of living water. Whoever drinks of this living water, the waters of His salvation, shall experience everlasting life. I pray that our response will be just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4. She said to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water that I thirst no more.”