Living Water
“When the last and biggest day of the feast came around, Jesus spoke out to the crowd so they could all hear Him, yes-sir-ee! He hollered out, ‘If any one of y’all is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! Any fellow or gal that believes in Me like the Good Book says will come to have rivers of living water gushin’ forth from deep inside”— John 7:37-38 (“The Gospel of John Cowboy Style”).
One of the best-loved country and western songs of all times is “Cool Water.” Written by Bob Nolen, it was first recorded on March 27, 1941 by the Sons of the Pioneers. Others who recorded the song were such artists as Hank Williams, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, Frankie Laine, Marty Robbins and Burl Ives.
“Cool Water” is about a prospector and his mule named Dan. Parched from thirst, they are crossing a barren desert, and are tormented by mirages of water dancing across the burning sands. Following are some of the lyrics . . .
“All day I face the barren waste, without the taste of water, cool water. Old Dan and I with throats burned dry, And souls that cry for water, cool, clear, water.”
Chorus:
“Keep a-movin’ Dan don’t ya listen to him Dan, He’s a devil of a man and he spreads the burning sand with water. Dan, can you see that big green tree, where the water’s running free, And it’s waiting there for you and me?”
It almost makes you thirsty just to read the lyrics. And, of course for the prospector and his mule, it was real thirst that they were dealing with.
Perhaps you have been thirsty. Maybe there has been a situation in your life that you, like the prospector, experienced a life-threatening need for water; you knew what it was to be truly thirsty.
At times when I have been thirsty, and it may be true for you as well, that the only thing that really and truly slacked my thirst was water. Nothing else, no other beverage really satisfied my thirst like a good long drink of “cool water.”
Well, that’s all about physical thirst. But, there is another kind of thirst. There is also a spiritual thirst that can be just as real and tangible a need as physical thirst.
That’s what Jesus is talking about in our text. He is in Jerusalem and it is the last day of the Feast of the Booths that celebrates God’s provision of water for the Children of Israel during their 40-years of wilderness wanderings. On that 7th and last day, the Jewish priests carried clay pots filled to the brim with water up the temple steps.
And Jesus cries out to the crowd, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” He wasn’t talking about physical water and He wasn’t talking about a physical thirst. He was talking about the soul of man. He was speaking about salvation. He was talking about a deeper and greater thirst, and that is to know God in a saving relationship. You see, He is the only One who can satisfy the deep needs, the deep cravings and thirst of all mankind.
It is the same that Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well . . .
“Jesus . . . said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
