Fast 2012 Devotion – Day 10

Topic: Life through the world OR life through the Spirit
Author: Karl Nielson, Deacon

Isaiah 55.1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…”

In Ecclesiastes (ekklesiates “Teacher”), we read the words penned by Solomon, the third and final king to reign over a united Israel. He is now mature, full in years, looking back on his life contemplating his existence and its worth. He begins by emphatically stating “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless! (Ecc 1:2) From then on Solomon, in view of his past life experiences and accomplishments, wrestles over the futility and brevity of man’s life. To contextualize this statement, King Solomon is granted by God unparalleled wisdom and insight during his reign – evident in the thousands of proverbs and songs he composes – and a breadth of understanding of nature and the things therein. Many kings from different nations send emissaries bearing gifts of great worth, seeking an audience with King Solomon to listen to the wisdom God has placed in his heart. The splendor of Solomon’s kingdom is seen in the incredible wealth and provision he amasses, the great endeavors he accomplishes (including building the Temple and its furnishings, Palaces and their gardens, the protective city walls, store cities and fleets of trading ships) and the extent of his kingdom which has reached what was promised to Abraham. The grandeur and splendor of his kingdom soon turns into self indulgence and extreme excess – seen in the sheer opulence of his palace and his many wives/concubines. He has more than any man possessed of what this world considers of worth yet he is sorely unfulfilled. King Solomon continues remarking how throughout his life his devotion to knowledge and the exploration by wisdom of all things in this world and beyond amounts to an act of futility. He further addresses the aspect of what pleasure accomplishes – seen in his acquisitions of wealth, the building projects, and even intentionally engaging in revelry and foolish behavior – all the while guided by wisdom. This too, after surveying all that he has labored and toiled to achieve, does not bring him fulfillment. He reflects further by stating that the eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. All man’s efforts are for his mouth yet his appetite is never satisfied. How true that is of us even today. Why is that? Consider what Solomon writes: [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecc 3:11) What Solomon is conveying is that God’s creation and the things therein are indeed vast and beautiful, yet they will never fully satisfy. This is because we are creatively and intentionally made for eternity, and therefore things that are temporal, of this world, cannot fully and permanently satisfy. All of life is meaningless if is not rightly related to God, for without him nothing satisfies. Only when we acknowledge and revere God and His Word does life have meaning and bring true enjoyment.

This point is further expounded on in John 4 where Jesus journeys from Judea back to Galilee, through Samaria. There he encounters a Samaritan woman drawing water at the well of Jacob. Being tired, he asks for a drink of water. She is incredulous that this Jew would make such a request of her, for Jews and Samaritans never associate. But this is all ordained, for Jesus responds, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water”. Most certainly she would have recognized “living water” being a reference to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, specifically the water drawing and pouring ceremony preformed by the priest. This feast commemorates, among many things, the precious water that miraculously issued forth from the rock, thus sustaining and satisfying the thirst of the Israelites during their stay in the wilderness. The Samaritan woman then asks this Jew where she could obtain this living water. Jesus replies, “Everyone who drinks this water [from the Well of Jacob] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst…” Jesus reveals to her that he knows that she has had five husbands and the man she is currently with is not her husband. What Jesus is trying to convey is not only her sin, but that her pursuit of fulfillment is futile. The temporal things of this world – power, social position, relationships, wealth, and acquisition – these are things we feast our eyes on and try to satisfy our insatiable appetites with. Though they may be enticing and enjoyable, it is only for a moment. We then engage ourselves of this endless cycle of moving from one thing to another, trying to find fulfillment but never reaching it. That is why many in this world are disillusioned and despondent with life itself. And Jesus tells us that he is the living water, that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only through a continual relationship with him can we be fully satisfied.

Jesus lives out his advice to the Samaritan woman. He states that “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” What Jesus is conveying is that what sustains him is not the things of this world, but rather listening to the Father and being obedient to His will. The Samaritan woman took to heart the truth in Jesus’ words; King Solomon, though he understood that the things of this world do not (and never can) satisfy, never tells us whether he chose the wisdom of God or the things of this world. The more important question is this: What is your choice?

Prayer: Father in Heaven we settle our hearts before you. We know that we are to hang on to things of this world very loosely. However, during this fast, let us not focus on what we are abstaining from, but rather what are thirsting and hungering for. You Word states that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. We come to the living waters, The Spirit looking for refreshing and we feast upon the bread of life to do your will. We believe this because your Word never returns void: What it endeavors to do, it accomplishes! Amen