Living Water

This newsletter is dedicated to the Memory of Leah Ruth Adler, who, with much love, courage and wisdom taught her family and many others where to find “living waters”.

Recently, we took a group of people on tour to Israel. It was evident to all of us the dryness of the land and the desperation of the people in the Land for rain. The need for rain during the seven-year drought in Israel gives Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Land common grounds for prayer. Many around the world have also been praying. It appears Adonai has heard the desperation of all our cries. Rain has recently been pounding the country to the point of agricultural damage; along with snow showers in the northern parts. Nevertheless, Israel needs a significant amount more to make up for all the years of drought, which has caused the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), a major source of drinking water, to recede to dangerous levels.

Drought is a way Adonai withholds blessing:

“The word of Adonai that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Judah mourns and the gates languish, they bow down in black unto the ground and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And the nobles send their lads for water; their vessels return empty; they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads. Because of the ground that is cracked, for there has been no rain in the land, the plowmen are ashamed; they cover their heads. Yes, the hind also in the fields births her calves, and forsakes her young, because there is no grass.” 1

This Scripture paints a hard reality. Jeremiah also prophesies, “For My people have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.” (Jeremiah 2:13) Who is Jeremiah speaking about here?

In the Brit Hadasha (New Covenant), Yeshua is traveling through Shomron (Samaria) and meets a woman there at Jacob’s well.

“So Yeshua came to the city of Shomron called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. Yeshua, being wearied from His journey, was sitting by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Shomron to draw water. Yeshua said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ His talmidim (disciples) had gone away into the city to buy food. The woman from Shomron said to Him, ‘How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a woman of Shomron?’ (For Jews have no dealings with people from Shomron.) Yeshua answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of Adonai, and who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ She said to Him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do you get that living water (mayim hayim)? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?’ Yeshua answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.’” 2

Yeshua makes reference to living water, mayim hayim in Hebrew, not like the Dead Sea, where nothing can grow. So, what is this living water? Living water produces life. In the desert, when you spot vegetation, you know that there is a source of water somewhere nearby that nourishes that vegetation. Without water, survival is impossible. The living water that Yeshua is referring to here is spiritual water that produces eternal life for our souls. At birth, Adonai breathes His spirit into each person to give life. Our bodies must be nourished with physical water that produces physical growth. Similarly, we must drink of spiritual living water to nourish our spirits. Yeshua provides that spiritual living water for all who will accept it. We nourish our spirits with living water when we embrace by faith Adonai and the eternal atonement He has provided for each of us through Messiah Yeshua. We all come to Him dry and parched spiritually, but when we embrace Him, we have His living water to extinguish the flames of eternal damnation in Sheol, or Hell.

Yochanon 7:38 states:

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” As we continue to read and study the Holy Scriptures, we are able to gain spiritual insight and learn to walk by His Spirit.

Psalm 1 declares:

“Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Torah of Adonai; and in His Torah he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water (living water), that brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither; and in whatsoever he does he will prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives way. Therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For Adonai knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Isaiah 55:

“Ho, everyone that thirsts, come for water, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Where do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your gain for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a prince and commander to peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you; because of Adonai Elo-hey-cha (your G-d), and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. Seek Adonai while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts; and let him return to Adonai, and He will have compassion upon him, and to Elo-hey-nu (our G-d), for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says Adonai. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void, but shall accomplish that which I please, and make the thing where I sent it prosper…”

Psalm 34:

“O taste and see that Adonai is good; happy is the man who takes refuge in Him…The eyes of Adonai are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry…Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Adonai delivers him out of them all.”

Revelation 22:17b

“Come! And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life (mayim hayim) freely.”