Day Eighteen

When planning services for a Sunday morning, one of my favorite songs to use as an opening was “All Who Are Thirsty.” The words were perfect as a call to worship, inviting the people of God to come and find a time of refreshing in God’s presence:

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy

As we considered yesterday, this image of restoration is so important to us as Christians, and water is a wonderful symbol of that. We come to God in our need, and he meets our need with the “waves of his mercy.” What a good word for us as we gather as God’s people, heading into our time of praise, prayer, and encouragement from our world of chaos, confusion, and discouragement.

This song is a perfect call to worship.

But after a few years of using the song at the top of our services, I found myself thinking about it in a totally different way. It happened on a Sunday where we were considering the subject of missions and evangelism, and in my planning I had already slotted in “All Who Are Thirsty” as our opening song. Then as I got to the end of the service, I wanted a song to send us out into the world with our message of good news in Jesus. I stared at the worship planning sheet and the words popped into my head:

“Use ‘All Who Are Thirsty’ as the closing song.”

Wait…what? That didn’t fit. It was a call to worship. a song for the start of the service. I already had it there. What place did it have at the end of the service? But my inner voice was pretty insistent:

“Use ‘All Who Are Thirsty.’”

I penciled it in and stared at the sheet for a moment. Then the truth hit me:

“This is the invitation you go out into the world to share.”

Suddenly the theme of the song made a full circle in my head. We come to God as those in need of hope and restoration, and then we are sent out into the world as those with the message of hope and restoration. As we gather, we hear God’s invitation to us. As we leave and return to the world, we are charged to give the same invitation to those we meet along the journey.

In Ezekiel 47 the prophet has a vision of God’s temple. In this vision, a river flows out from the temple, causing the barren lands to spring forth with abundance and beauty. Ezekiel is told:

“This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”—Ezekiel 47:8-9 (NIV)

What a powerful image—a river that gives life to salty waters that before could not sustain life. The waters of this river also give birth to trees that provide fruit that both sustains and heals. It is the very picture of how water restores and refreshes. A similar image occurs in Zechariah 14, where it is proclaimed:

“On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.”—Zechariah 14:8 (NIV)

These images of water flowing out from Jerusalem to the whole earth are often seen as pictures of the New Heavens and New Earth, the final manifestation of God’s kingdom reign. But some scholars also see these river images as depicting the word of God spreading to the four corners of the earth in the age of the church, echoing the Great Commission of Jesus. I think both are valid interpretations.

What I find fascinating in both of these images is that the water of God’s river gives life both to God’s people (represented by Jerusalem and the surrounding area), and to places far away from Jerusalem. To me this is a picture of how the Spirit of God both restores the people of God and send them out into the world with the good news of the gospel.

That’s what happens to us in worship: we meet with God, and in meeting him we are renewed and empowered to represent him to the world.

All who are thirsty, come to the fountain…that’s us.
All who are thirsty, come to the fountain…that’s the message we’re given.

It’s a call to worship…and a call to share.

As deep cries out to deep
We sing, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Interstreet RecordingsOn behalf of: Devotion Music

Questions for Reflection

1) In your own life, how have you experienced this cycle of being refreshed and renewed, then taking that refreshing and renewal into the world? Spend some time in prayer that God would lead you to the waters that satisfy your soul, and lead you to the people who need to know that same peace.

2) Many people feel inadequate to the task of sharing their faith. In reality, it’s really about sharing your story. A good spiritual practice is to sit and reflect on the ways God stirred your soul to draw you into relationship with him, rehearsing anew your own story of grace as you ask the Holy Spirit to open doors to share it with others.

3) Spend some time contemplating this quote form Ceylonese pastor D.T. Niles:

“Evangelism is just one beggar telling another where to find bread.”

4) Read and reflect on this passage of Scripture. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters…Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”—Isaiah 43:16,18-21 (NRSV)