“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’”
John 7:38
After weeks of high temperatures and no rain across the UK, the skies finally opened. As the rain steadily fell, my son called me out into the garden. Grinning, he pointed to a big snail making its way across the grass. Then he showed me another, and another, and two more and as my eyes adjusted, I saw the lawn come alive with snails. Struck by their sudden appearance, I was eager to find out what had roused them. I discovered that a snail’s body is made up primarily of moisture, which it relies upon to survive. The lack of rain had left our garden snails dried out and incapable of moving, but the downpour had revived them.
Without the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we become dry and incapable of moving in the direction and purposes of God.
In John 4, we read how Jesus encountered a woman who was spiritually dry. She came to draw water from the well, but in speaking with Jesus, recognised that he could quench a deeper thirst she hadn’t even been aware of.
Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.
v.13-14
When we encounter Jesus, we realise just how parched we’ve been.
Perhaps you go to church, read your Bible and pray. You’re busy with many things for God, but you still feel stuck. Your relationship with God feels dry and your heart feels unyielding and immovable.
Let the refreshing streams of God’s Spirit fill you and enable you to move again in the purpose and promises of your Creator.
One of the words for a group of snails is a walk. As the family of God, when we are in unity, we walk together in the Spirit, and we know the refreshing streams of blessing and abundance.
“How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.” – Psalm 133
2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that we walk ‘by faith and not by sight.’ When you feel spiritually dry, walk by faith, believing in the One who refreshes and fills you with the capacity to move.
By God’s Spirit, we no longer remain stuck and hidden in the shadows, we are filled to overflowing and are able to ‘walk’ together in unity with other believers.
© 2023 by Ruth O’Reilly-Smith
