Water Water Everywhere

Even if you managed to escape reading the actual poem in high school, almost everyone in the English-speaking world is familiar with certain lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

This past week, we have been living some of the reality of that poem (fortunately minus the trip to the Antarctic, death of an albatross, and evil spirits playing dice for the souls of men).

We have been getting so much rain that sometimes it feels like we are dog-paddling when we walk between buildings. Several days we have had over three inches of rain - on Wednesday we had almost four! In times like these, we remember why they call it a rain forest.

With this much rain you would think that we would have plenty of water at our house. That would be where you have it wrong. For some reason that we (and apparently the local utility company) have never understood, whenever we get lots of rain we lose the water at our house. So, while the rain came down outside, nothing was going down our sinks, showers or toilets.

Fortunately, the Multiplication Center has a good cistern and swimming pool. We were able to carry water in plastic jerrycans to the house to allow us to take care of some of our most basic needs.

Struggling with water for a few days always reminds us of how privileged we are to actually have it in the first place. Much of the world doesn't have access to clean or, even, useful water. Because of that, some experts say that 40 percent of the world's population currently finds itself in geopolitical tension over water.

Because the Bible was written in a part of the world where water is scarce, it shouldn't surprise us that it has such an important part in the biblical narrative. The lack of water was very serious and drought was seen as an evidence of the wrath of God. The prophets Elijah, Jeremiah and Haggai all predicted drought as punishment from God (1 Kings 17:1; Jeremiah 14: 1-6; and, Haggai 1: 10-11).

On the other hand, rainfall was seen as a sign of God's favor and goodness. In the Bible water serves as a symbol of God's blessing and spiritual refreshment. One of my favorite examples is found in Isaiah 35:6,7: "..then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes."

Jesus understood the value of water as a symbol. When He met with the Samaritan woman He said, "..but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14, ESV). When the Samaritan woman heard about that type of water, she definitely seemed willing to give her all to posses it

Not having water this week - and how much I missed it! - helped me to meditate on how much I treasure the spiritual water I am privileged to have. Truth be told, sometimes I take it for granted. It seems like more grace always comes out of the tap. I hope I can mature enough that I rejoice in the salvation I have at least as much as I rejoiced in seeing water come out of our faucets and go down our toilets this week.