Never Thirst Again

(Please note: All hi-lited passages are links to the appropriate sites or Scriptures referenced)

Sometimes when I am praying or even when I am asleep, God will give me a "word" - literally one word - and, when I go to look up the word, it will just speak to me about where God wants me or something He wants me to know about Himself. A few months ago, I had been praying about some anxiety I was having and "helplessness" that I was feeling. One night during all of this, I had a very vivid dream and God gave me the word "Siloam". I had no earthly idea what this meant, so I started pulling out every Bible reference book I have like "Places in the Bible", "People in the Bible," my Bible dictionaries, etc., and this is what I found:
Siloam – "The pool of Siloam is fed by a conduit...which takes its start from the so-called Virgin 's Spring...The Virgin's Spring is the only spring of fresh water in the immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem, and in time of siege it was important that while the enemy should be deprived of access to it, its waters should be made available for those who were within the city...the spring itself could be covered with masonry, so that it could be 'sealed' in case of war...A natural siphon from an underground basin accounts for [the Spring's] flow" (Taken from Unger's Bible Dictionary, 1977 ed.).
Basically, Siloam was a protected stream that flowed into Jerusalem, and it was the only water source guaranteed to remain pure if the people within its walls were attacked from the outside.
Siloam is where Jesus told the blind man to go and wash the clay from his eyes in order to receive healing and it is also thought by Bible scholars to be from this stream that Jesus held the water up in the cup at the Feast of Tabernacles and said “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38).” (According to Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, 1947 ed.)

So what do I think this means to me? After praying about Siloam and studying the Word, I believe that God was telling me that my "helplessness," my anxieties and my fears, were obviously not from Him and were not in accordance with His Truth. The true underlying problem is that I was not in the Word at the time but I was existing on my own strength; I was in a "dry spell" and not drinking from "the living water." I was spiritually dehydrated, dying of thirst, and the Lord was gently, lovingly calling me back to His Living Water where my soul could be renewed and refilled. The Israelites were warned of the dangers of this self-inflicted dehydration in Isaiah 8:6 where The Lord says "Because my people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah (another name for Siloam)....I will [bring waters that are not so gentle into their lives!]"
In contrast to living with our tongues hanging out, panting for help, Jeremiah 17:13 says that the Lord IS "the spring of living water." In John 4:10, Jesus tells the woman at the well that if she would only ask Him, He would give her the "living water." And lastly, in Revelation 7:17, there is a precious verse for those dealing with depression and sadness: "The Lamb...will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (I used to pray this verse over myself when crying and it always brought me peace).

So how do I practically gain access to this "living water" during my day to day life and during those times of hope and fear? First, I can cry out to the source and confess that through Christ in me, I AM filled with the Living Water, if I would only take His cup and drink from it. Jesus said "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matt 7:8). Ask Him for His living water, and it is yours to drink, to GULP! It flows through you through His Spirit. It never runs empty or dry! The Amplified Bible describes Siloam as "the only perennial fountain of Jerusalem, and symbolic of God's protection and sustaining power" (Isaiah 8:6). In Isaiah 58:9-12, the Lord says that if you cry out to Him and follow His Word, then "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." I would much rather be this "well-watered garden...[whose] waters never fail" than to be the dried up, weed-choked mess that I was before crying out to the Lord and drinking from HIS Waters - wouldn't you?? Jeremiah 17:7-8 says that when we trust in the Lord, we will be "like a tree planted by the water...it does not fear when heat comes...It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Where are you planted? Are you planted by the living water? Are you bearing fruit even in a time of drought? If not, examine your roots to see if you need to be dug up and re-planted!

After crying out to God and starting back on the right path to hydration, we can STAY hydrated by daily drinking the "Living Water" straight from His Word. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God is the Word and the Word is God. God is the Living Water and The Word is the fountain of Living Water from which we can drink and hydrate our souls. If you immerse yourself in it, The Lord can bathe you in His Word! Eph 5:25-27 says that Christ so loves the church that He cleanses and sanctifies His church "by the washing of water with the Word." Douse yourself in His Word, study it day and night, meditate on it so that, as Psalm 1:2-3 says, you may be "like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season."
Lastly, DO NOT MISS the so-beautiful fact mentioned in Unger's Bible Dictionary that the pool of Siloam, the waters Jesus held up in His cup at the Feast, were waters famously protected from outside enemies during times of war. What does this mean to me? When I am attacked from all sides by Satan and his "demonic forces", my ultimate Source, my "Living Water" through Christ in me, hope of glory and through the Word of God, sharper than any double-edged sword, is IMPENETRABLE by the Enemy! I can drink from this fountain all day long without fear of it being polluted by my Enemy. It is my only True Source of Hope!

Even though you may be "in a time of drought," as described in Jeremiah 17, you DO NOT have to have "fear...worries... failing to bear fruit..." as long as you are "planted" by the Living Waters(Jer 17:7-8). Even though you may feel forsaken, rejected, and despised by men like the woman at the well, you too can simply ask Jesus for His Living Water (John 4:10) and never thirst again. And even though you may feel crippled, blinded and unable to see where to go, You like the blind man in John 9, can go and wash your eyes in the Living Waters and then proclaim "I once was blind but NOW I SEE!"
I praise you Lord for Your Living Waters, I will proclaim your praise, for You ARE "Making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. [You] provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to [Your] people, [Your] chosen, the people [You] formed for [Yourself] that [we] may proclaim [Your] praise" (Isaiah 43:19-21).
Amen, Amen, AMEN!!