Hosanna Restoration Church

(2 Chronicles 4:5 NLT)

All over the news right now we are seeing the best and the worst of water. We have appeals for fresh water to drink, and concerns for the disease and destruction that flood waters have and can cause. Jesus spoke of living water, and that water is in fact the one thing that all people need.

As I read this scripture, my first thought was how in the world they filled that huge vessel. According to my calculations it would take 3,300 five-gallon buckets to fill it. Actually that was just the level they usually kept it at. One source said that it would actually hold over 20,000 gallons. They did not have garden hoses, and there is no mention of a system to fill the sea. It also says that this was reserved for the priests to wash in. There were other basins to wash off the sacrifices. The bottom line is that it took a lot of water and a lot of work. How often did they change the water? It would seem it would be often, since the priests probably got pretty bloody. Also, if you ever had a tank in your yard to swim in, you know it gets dirty pretty quickly.

I know it sounds flaky to some to say that God speaks to us, but as I considered this, the Lord began to speak to me about water in the Sea, and what it takes to keep it fresh and full. He also said the people do not necessarily have to experience things to say they believe it, but we will never really believe until we do experience it. I used to believe that God was okay for people who needed Him. Then I experienced Him and I knew He was good for everyone. Only God can sustain us in all circumstance.

Having said that, we can agree, that there was no small effort involved in the duties of keeping the Sea and the basins clean and full of fresh water. The fact is that it requires an effort on our part to stay fresh and full of God’s Spirit. We cannot just occasionally go to church or fellowship with others and think we will stay full. We cannot neglect the Word of God and think we will stay fresh and powerful. It requires an effort.

The effort involves more than prayer, reading the Bible, and fellowship with others. It involves a daily walking out of the life of Christ that is in us. We need to practice His presence in the small everyday things in order to be prepared for the big things when they come. It takes an effort to respond with fresh water when someone dumps sewage on us or when things do not go the way we prefer. Sometimes we can dip from the Sea, and sometimes we need to just jump in and let it cover us completely. Just as many people have to swim to safety in a flood, we need to be prepared to swim to the arms of Jesus.

We need to imagine how we would allow God to see us through worst imaginable thing. When we see things on the news that break our hearts, we must pray and we must determine that even in that, we know God would sustain us.

Just as the priests spent their days tending to that natural water, so we must spend our days tending to the living water. We cannot live without Him. We all need to keep the level of living water full and fresh in our lives.