Our Daily Bread 15 December 2019 Devotional – Water into Hope
Bible in a Year: Amos 1–3, Revelation 6
Key Verse: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. – John 7:37
Today’s Scripture: John 4:4–14 (NIV)
Insight
Ever since the days of the prophets, Israel had looked forward to a messianic age when renewing waters of spiritual life would flow from the temple of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 47:1–12; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:6–9). In anticipation of that day, at the annual Feast of Tabernacles the high priest of Israel drew water from the pool of Siloam outside of Jerusalem and led a procession into the city where he poured out the water at the temple altar. Jesus claimed not only to be the source of living water but also the temple of the living God (John 2:18–21; 4:10-14). – Mart DeHaan
Today’s Word: Tom and Mark’s ministry refreshes lives. This is clear in the video they share of a group of fully clad children laughing and dancing in the refreshing water of an open shower—their first ever. The men work with indigenous churches to install water filtration systems on wells in Haiti, easing and lengthening lives as diseases connected to contaminated water are prevented. Access to clean, fresh water gives the people hope for their future.
Jesus referred to “living water” in John 4 to capture a similar idea of a continual source of refreshment. Tired and thirsty, Jesus had asked a Samaritan woman for a drink (vv. 4–8). This request led to a conversation in which Jesus offered the woman “living water” (vv. 9–15)—water that would become a source of life and hope within them, like “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (v. 14).
We discover what this living water is later in John, when Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink,” declaring that whoever believed in Him would have “rivers of living water [flowing] from within them.” John explains, “By this he meant the Spirit” (7:37–39).
Through the Spirit, believers are united to Christ and have access to the boundless power, hope, and joy found in God. Like living water, the Spirit lives inside believers, refreshing and renewing us.
Reflect & Pray
How has Jesus satisfied your thirst through His Spirit? How will you share what Jesus has done for you?
Dear God, thank You for leaving us Your Spirit. Work in us so that our lives point others to You.
Previos: Jesus And The Bigger Story
Our Daily Bread 15 December 2019 Devotional – Water into Hope, was written by Alyson Kieda (Our Daily Bread Ministries)