Come to the Water and Drink

Greetings,

            We are coming to the close of the season of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent.  The manifestation of Jesus the Christ is made real for us by the grace of God, yet we so often are reluctant to acknowledge and fully accept it. 

            “Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman, saying, ‘Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean” (II Kings 5:10 NRSV).

            “[Jesus said], ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.  As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water”’” (John 5:37b, 38).

           

            In The Silver Chair, one of the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, there is the following exchange between the Lion, Aslan, and Jill, the heroine:

            “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.

            “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

            “Then drink,” said the Lion.

            “May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?,” said Jill.

            The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl.  And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

            The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

            “Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?,” said Jill.

            “I make no promise,” said the Lion.

            Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

            “Do you eat girls?,” she said.

            “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion.  It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry.  It just said it.

            “I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.

            “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

            “Oh dear!,” said Jill, coming another step nearer.  “I suppose I must go look for another stream then.”

            “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

                                                                                                        (From The Silver Chair, chapter 2, by C. S. Lewis; copyright ©1942 by C. S. Lewis.)

   

      Whether for the first time or the thousandth time, come and drink of the water God has prepared and offered for our benefit.  Come to the water of salvation.

Yours & His,

DED