Week 3 Friday

A Well Full of Grace

Today’s scripture selection: Isaiah 12-17

Key verses: Isaiah 12:2-3

     It may seem like an odd place to find it.  In the midst of prophetic doom and gloom, chapter after chapter of condemnation, comes a word of hope and grace.

     “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

     It is a song of praise in anticipation of how God is going to care for his people, even if for now that salvation seems far away.

That’s one thing I love about reading the prophets.  Though I have a hard time identifying with what it must have been like to be a member of small nation surrounded by great powers like Babylon; I can identify with what it means to feel overwhelmed.  Though I can only read about what life was like in Isaiah’s day; I can appreciate that thousands of years later we still need, from time to time, to “draw water from the wells of salvation.”

Have you done that lately?  In the middle of whatever daily challenge you must meet – have you found what joy there can be found by drawing on God’s abundant resources?  I hope so.  Because too often we are under the false assumption that we alone must provide for our needs or the needs of those we love.

Many times we can do just that.  We fight our daily battles strongly and confidently; we rest assured that we are intelligent enough and resourceful enough to handle whatever will come our way.  But there are those times when we find we just don’t have what it takes.  We struggle to meet the day ahead and even the smallest obstacles seem monumental.

Those are the times when we need to remember to draw from the well of God’s grace.  It’s always full; always available; always at our disposal.  And it will never run dry.

So when the formidable forces of your own private Babylon gather on the horizon – remember to draw deep from God’s peace and strength and repeat these words to yourself:

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.”  Not now – not ever.

Prayer: Lord, when my spiritual well runs dry, lead me to the still, cool, refreshing waters of your grace.  AMEN.