Inspirational Article From Joanne Lowe Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

THE REFRESHING WATER

“And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”

Isaiah 12: 1 – 6 King James Version

“This is an emergency!! Dive in and stay under the water as long as possible. The enemy is fast approaching and they have many deadly weapons, weapons that will not only kill the body but also kill your self confidence”. I think if we will listen with our hearts we will hear Jesus shouting this from His heart of unconditional love and compassion to us. Indeed, great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of us.

He cares about us and wants to protect us from all danger. He loves us so much that He died for us on a cruel cross of torture. It was also a cross of such agony and such heartache that it is impossible for us to describe in words much less fully comprehend with our human minds all of the pain, horror, criticism, rejection, sarcasm and loneliness that He endured.

When we dive under the water in a swimming pool or in the ocean if we stay under the water long enough we will drown. Even if we are wearing an oxygen mask, eventually the oxygen will be gone. It is just the opposite with the waters of Jesus. The longer we stay under His wells of salvation, the safer we will be and the more His unconditional love, mercy and grace will be in our hearts. The verse says “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation”. It doesn’t say the well of salvation; it says “the wells of salvation”. Not only does Jesus save us from our sins; He saves us from all of the horrors, sarcasm, rejection, agony, criticism and heartaches that we encounter in our daily lives.

Indeed, the world and satan attacks us daily, and sometimes hourly, with their poisonous darts of criticism, discouragement, sarcasm, judgment and rejection. The tragic thing about it is that sometimes these weapons which cripple us and devastate us emotionally come from the ones who claim to love us. I think a lot of times they don’t even know that they are hurting us. However, I also think that there are times when they deliberately say things to put us down. A Christian psychiatrist once told me “Some people have to put other people down to feel good about themselves because they are so insecure”. How sad that we have to put people down to feel good about ourselves!

If today the heat of the battle is more than you can bear, dive into the wells of love that Jesus gives us and stay under the water until the hurt, despair, horror and heartaches go away. Then, go back hourly, maybe every five minutes if you need to, for the refreshing water of His unconditional love for you. Don’t wait until the pain is so severe that you are unable to even crawl to the water. There may not be anyone available to take you there when you need it the most.

His heart is full of compassion, tenderness and understanding and He longs to take your pain and heartaches away. He is waiting for you with a tender smile on His face and His arms open wide. Dive into the water of the wells of salvation and find rest and peace for your tortured and battered heart.

Joanne Lowe

May 31, 2007

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