In Isaiah 12 we have a beautiful passage, a prophesy of the song that was going to be sung by Gods’ people, after He had redeemed them. A song which we, who have been redeemed by Jesus’ death and resurrection, can fully embrace and enjoy.
In verse 3 we are told ‘With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation’. We are introduced firstly to the idea that salvation is like a well, and secondly that we can actually pull up more and more of the water in it, with joy.
Wells in those days would have been a hole, dug deep in the ground, so that they reached an underground water table or water course. Having a well that didn’t run dry would be vital. Clearly the ‘wells’ of salvation described in Isaiah were not going to run dry, as drawing water from them was going to be a source of great joy.
When I was ‘saved’ at a huge evangelistic meeting in 1966, a very dear lady who acted as my ‘counsellor’ asked me if I had ‘assurance of Salvation’. I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about. I just knew that I had started a new life, and this time, God was in charge. 56 years later I most definitely have ‘assurance of salvation’ but I am also still drawing water from the incredible ‘well’ of salvation that opened up for me that day.
Sometimes when we’ve been on the road as Christians for some time, we can get so that we feel we’ve “got it under our belt”. We’ve understood and know all the basic truths and know what the christian life should look like. We’ve done ‘church’ for many years, and we have our salvation sorted. We can at this time be in danger of losing ‘the joy’ of our salvation.
The problem can be that we are thinking of salvation as a set of doctrines and behaviours, when in fact it is a love affair; the most incredible relationship ever, with the Lord and Creator of the whole universe. His love is so high deep and wide that we can never fully ‘know’ it Ephesians 3 : 16-19 and so is His incredible plan of salvation. It is so much more than we can ever imagine.
So how do we stay enthralled? How in fact do we keep drawing fresh water from the never ending water supply in this ‘well’ of salvation? Well one way I know of, is to be intentional in thanking God for what you know he has given you, and done for you, and as you thank the Lord for what you know of His love and work in your life, He will open up to you fresh revelation on old well known truths, and fresh understanding of the depths of His love.
Thank Him for what you know you have, and then ask Him to take you deeper, higher, further on, into all that His death on the cross bought for you, and all that walking in ‘newness of life’ in Christ means too, Romans 6 : 4. Giving thanks for these things is like putting your bucket down the well again, to draw up more of the living water, and it will bring you great joy.
