With joy we draw water from the well of salvation (Is. 12:3)

Water, and rivers, play a vital part in the history of humankind and it is good to celebrate them, but it is even more important to respond to the Lord’s invitation to come to Him and drink of the eternal water of life. In this second part of Smetana’s depiction of the Moldau river, you will love the rippling effects of the water that Fontane captures so beautifully. May you be refreshed in the depths of your spirit as you receive the sparkling water of life from the Lord’s own hands. Music Moldau from Má Vlast (My Fatherland) by Bedřich Smetana continued. Performed by Fontane Liang. It is no coincidence that two thirds of the earth’s surface is given over to the oceans, nor that a similar percentage of our bodies consists of water, a figure that rises to 85% when it comes to our brains. Rivers have long been the hub of communities, both as a source of pleasure and of commerce. A river flowing safely within its banks is a beauty to behold, and a powerful force for good, bringing fertility and blessing. But rivers can also be dangerous. When flood water pours over the surrounding countryside, it saturates where it shouldn’t and causes great damage and even loss of life amongst the very people it had previously sustained. Lord, You intended that the rivers that sprang from Eden should water the Earth – and you desire that we should be life-giving too – neither full of froth and bubbles, nor surging into places we should not go, polluting and contaminating. Breathe Your quality of life into us now, as we come to the waters, and fill us afresh we pray with sparkling, refreshing life. Lord Jesus, long before there was any separation between land and sea, before there were any rivers or even rain, You were present. You are the Wisdom of God. Now, the wisdom the sages of our generation purvey appears tremendously attractive and even profound, but at heart, so much of it is overlaid with syncretistic and decidedly woke-ist tendencies. Without You, how can any of these things bring us the authentic blessings of eternal life? As Jeremiah challenged His people at a time when they, like so many today, were committing the cardinal mistake of forsaking Him, the spring of living water, and were busy digging their own broken cisterns and systems. ‘Why go to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain by doing so? Or by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? These are bitter waters and your backsliding will find us out.’ (Jer. 2:13, 18-19) We’re so grateful that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life, Lord Jesus. It is in You alone that we find all that nourishes and enriches both us and the whole of Creation – and You are inviting us to come to You and drink from the water of Life. Why would we look anywhere else, or hold any part of our lives back from You? Help us to share every part of our lives with You, and to remember to look and to consult You about everything. May we be like those prophets of old, who drank deeply of Your words, and allowed them to penetrate to the depths of their being. Like them, may we draw up water with joy from the deep wells of salvation: (Jer. 15:16; Is.12:3) waters that become lifegiving streams and rivers in their own right. Yes Lord, we are thirsty, and we come to receive the water of life from Your hands, from Your fountain of life right now.