With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
In that day you will say:
‘Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
(Isaiah 12:3-4 NIV)
As I prepare for devotions at the arts camp I lead, I’ve been studying the theme of spiritual water and the significance of wells in the Bible. When I started reflecting on how wells function and their importance in ancient societies, God began to bring all sorts of images and metaphors to mind—many of which I’ll share in other posts.
One story I focused on is found in John 4, where a Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at a well. As I studied this passage, I learned that the well where this conversation took place is believed to be the same one dug by the patriarch Jacob, after he returned from living with his uncle Laban. During those twenty years, Jacob married Laban’s daughters and fathered most of the twelve sons who would become the tribes of Israel.
In The Victor Journey Through the Bible by V. Gilbert Beers, I came across a fascinating detail: the well is about four feet wide. But what really caught my attention was its changing depth over time. Beers writes:
“In A.D. 670 a visitor wrote that it was 240 feet deep. In 1697 another said it was only 105 feet deep. By 1861 it was only 75 feet deep. The reason for this changing depth is that pilgrims threw pebbles into the well throughout the centuries, gradually filling it in. But water from the well is still pure enough to drink.” (p. 222)
Imagine that—centuries of people visiting this sacred place, praying, and tossing in pebbles until the once-deep well became significantly shallower. This image reminded me of Aesop’s fable about the crow who can’t reach the water at the bottom of a pitcher, so it drops in pebbles until the water rises and becomes accessible.
Spiritually, we are like that crow—we need the water to live. But unlike the fable, we don’t have to toss in pebbles to access what we need. Jesus has already made the Living Water available to us. He’s filled in the gap. All we have to do is come to him.
When we pray, we draw from that well of salvation. As we seek him, the Living Water flows into our lives—pure, abundant, and life-giving. What a gift.
Thanks be to God!
God,
Thank you, Lord, for providing deep wells of salvation—freely available to us through faith in Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Thank you for the rivers of Living Water that flow from these wells, bringing us joy and blessing. We praise your name and proclaim it in this world, making known to others all that you have done. Please continue to fill us with your Living Water. Remind us to pray faithfully for your will to be done and your Kingdom to come, even as we live out your Kingdom purposes in our daily lives. In Jesus’s name, AMEN.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3 NIV)