Lapping Living Water...

In my last post, I covered a reference to God being the Fountain of living waters (Exodus 15:22-26).  God calls Himself the Fountain of living waters in Jeremiah Chapter 2.  Jesus makes reference to Himself being the Fountain of living waters in John Chapter 4.  So what has my blog name got to do with that?  I noted in the last post that I believe the living waters are the ways of God, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3)," and every word that we need to know is recorded in the Bible.

When we read the Bible, we find that God has repeated over and over that He has chosen a number of people that will rekindle the fires of the Spirit in the end times.  Is one of those people you? It may very well be; but that is something between you and Him.  You may just want to ask God about it.  Though I would say this, that even if you do get a "yes" answer, Paul set a good example for the chosen to follow.  When he knew that he was chosen himself, he said, "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord (1 Corinthians 4:1-4)." Which, to me, says that Paul knew that he had a great understanding of the scriptures and what the purpose of life was, and what he was supposed to do with that knowledge, but he knew also Who to give credit to for the knowledge.  He knew that he could understand nothing of the Bible, except that God opened his eyes to it.  So, even though he was "chosen", he didn't dare act as though he was any better than anyone else (those who read the Bible know that God hates that type of behavior anyway), because he had no knowledge without God's say so... just like all of us.  And the reason that he had that knowledge was to help others out with it... just like all of us.

Those mysteries that he spoke of are found in the Bible - and he ate them up, just like it was his last meal.  He loved scripture; his astonishment that others didn't seem to love scripture as much as he did rings through in his writing.  And this is where lapping living waters comes in. (The story is found in Judges chapter 7.)

After Israel had entered the promised land, they didn't have kings for quite a long time.  Rather, God placed wise people over them to act as judges in matters of dispute and to lead them in war - but God Himself was their King. 

Moses was a judge.  Joshua was a judge.  And Gideon also was a judge. 

Just before Gideon was made a judge, some of the foreigners began to cause trouble in Israel.  The Midianites ("Midian" is a Hebrew word meaning "strife"), who were descendants of Abraham by his second wife Keturah, and the Amalekites ("Amalek" is a Hebrew word meaning "valley dwellers" or "dwellers in the low land" or, more bluntly, "lowlifes"), who were descendants of Esau, had begun to opress Israel.  The Lord told Gideon that he would be the one to deliver Israel - he was chosen - "Gideon" is a Hebrew word meaning "harvester" and symbolizes those chosen of God that will help Him with the spiritual harvest. 

When Gideon was ready to fight the Midianites and the Amalekites, there were 32,000 of his tribesmen with him (32 is the number of the covenant with God, and 1,000 is the number of God's grace), but God told him there were too many peope to fight.  God was going to deliver Israel by the hand of a few to show His power to Israel and to the surrounding nations.  God told Gideon that anyone that did not want to fight could go home - so those who were ready to fly away for fear of the battle left.  The amount that left was 22,000, leaving Gideon with 10,000 remaining (10 is the number of the law (or testimony) of God, and 1,000 is the number of His grace).  But God said that 10,000 was still too many.  So God got the people to all drink from a nearby water source - they partook of the living waters!  Those that casually kneeled down and scooped the water with their hands were sent back to their tents, but 300 of the people were so thirsty for the water that they got down on their hands and knees and lapped up the water like a dog - these people were chosen to fight (3 is the number of the Divine nature of God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - and 100 is the number of the chosen, the "elect").

300 people against two full armies... 300... against an army of probably thousands, or tens of thousands.  All of the 300 were all given a lamp (to let their light shine) and were given a trumpet (to sound the battle cry).  And when they blew their trumpets, the armies of the Midianites and the Amalekites fled in terror.  Not one hair on the heads of the 300 was harmed.

This is why I named my blog "lapping living waters" - whether I have been chosen or not.... I judge not mine own self.  All I know is that once you have tasted the living waters, you too will want to lap it up because it is so refreshing.  There are no other waters like it.  "Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6)"... and so they shall.  What's your water source?  God bless.

And They Came To Elim...

"So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'  And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, 'If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.'

And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters."

~Exodus 15:22-27

This is how I read this. The well is God - the Fountain of living waters (see Jeremiah 2). The mouth of the well is the mouth of God, and the waters thereof are His commandments and statutes (His ways). They were perceived as being bitter until Christ, the Tree of life, was cast into the well, into the pit, into the belly of the earth, and thereafter the sweetness of God's ways were made known. The twelve wells are the twelve tribes of Israel - in spirit and not according to physical geneology (see Galatians 3) - and the 70 strong trees are the elect in the end times - who are a part of the 7 churches in Revelation 1-3. "I am the Lord that healeth thee"... "By His stripes, we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

The other interesting thing about this passage is the time stamp.  The Israelites came up from the Red Sea, where only a few people passed through (that being Israel) while many people were flooded out (all of the Egyptians that pursued them).  It's very reminiscent of Noah's flood (Genesis 7), where only a few survived the flood.  So the Israelites come up from the flood, three days pass, and then they have this sign of the Christ at the well of Marah.  Peter says in 2 Peter 3:8, "one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."  The interesting thing here is that Noah's flood occurred about 3,000 years before Christ was crucified on the cross.  Three days from the flood at the Red Sea to the well at Marah, three thousand years from Noah's flood to the crucifiction of Christ.  I think it's pretty neat that it works out that way.  God bless.