Happenings 30/09/21

I heard a true story recently from the battle of El Alamein - one of the decisive battles of the Second World War. The battle was raged during the fiercely hot hours of the day when the heat was most intense on the sands of North Africa. When it seemed that the British had nearly reached the limits of their endurance and their water supply had all but gone, they were suddenly surprised to see large numbers of the elite desert German army throwing up their hands in surrender, and come stumbling towards them. They were in a terribly bad way, with parched tongues sticking out of thick, swollen lips. And they came begging - begging for water, even just a sip.

What had happened was that, as they overran the previous British position, there was a newly-constructed water main there. The thirsty German soldiers had drank from it deeply before destroying it so it couldn't be used by the British. However, what they didn't realise was that the pump was still being tested, and instead of fresh water running through it, sea water from the Mediterranean was being pumped through to test its water-tightness. The Germans unwittingly drank sea water, and were nearly driven insane by the thirst this created in them as they fought. They were defeated, not because of their lack of ability or commitment, but because they had drunken from the wrong source.

It is not an accident that Jesus compares the gift of God to being like living water - that most basic of needs - when talking with the woman at the well in John 4. It is when HE becomes our source of life and strength, peace and contentment, that we are able to endure. When we try to 'fill up' from other sources, we find they simply do not and cannot satisfy us. Who are you drinking from as you go through this week? Relationship with Jesus or a dependency on other things?

In Him,
Murray