Lent 4 March
18, 2007
“Draw Water from the Well”
Isaiah 12:1-6
1
In that day, you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger
has turned away and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD is my strength and my
song; he has become my salvation. 3 With
joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4
In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make
known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is
exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has
done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of
Imagine that it is a
blistering summer afternoon of the “Houston 95” – 95 degrees and 95%
humidity. You are working in the
yard. The sweat is pouring off your
forehead and your back is drenched. You’ve
had to take a break every 30 minutes or so to come into the house and cool off
in the A/C before heading back out to the heat.
After three hours you’ve finally finished. You come inside, open the fridge and reach
for…a Dr. Pepper! Or worse yet, an
ice-cold beer.
Why would I say that is
bad? Because when your body has lost a
lot of fluids and is craving re-hydration, the last thing you need is a sweet,
sugary soda pop or a can of alcohol.
What you need to do first is to down at least 32 ounces of plain old
water to re-hydrate your body. Then you
can relax and enjoy a favorite beverage – in moderation, of course.
It has been said that between
50% and 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated – that is, they don’t drink
enough water for their bodies to operate at maximum performance. Dehydration can lead to migraine headaches,
heartburn, muscle cramping, being lethargic, even depression. Some studies even link chronic dehydration to
MS, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and organ diseases. None of those from that last list have been
proven of course, yet, clearly we can see that it is important for one’s health
that they remain properly hydrated.
Now if it’s important for our
physical bodies to have plenty of good ole H2O, isn’t it more important for our
faith to have plenty from the wells of God’s Word? Let’s re-hydrate today – we’re parched from
the bumps and bruises of the week. Let’s
re-hydrate today - it’s hard to live out there in the world of sin and
temptation. Let’s drink in plenty of
God’s Word this morning to keep our souls watered for today and beyond. Here comes the hose! Listen to Isaiah 12.
We’ll start with verse
one. That’s where Isaiah lays out the message
that quenches our soul thirst. (read v.1-3) I’ll begin with a brief grammar lesson
that reveals a detail I don’t want you to miss.
In English, if I say, “I’m talking to you” am I talking to just one
person or to more than one? It could be
either. I could be talking to “you”
(point to one person) or I could be talking to “you” (point to the entire
congregation). In English the same word
“you” covers both singular and plural; you can’t tell the difference. (Post-sermon note: After the sermon, a few
joyful parishioners commented that when you live in
But in Hebrew, there are
different words for “I’m talking to you (singular) and I’m talking to you
(plural) – and in these three verses, every time the word “you” appears it is
of the “I’m talking to you (point to one person)” variety. That makes these verses amazingly personal. The words “I, me, my, you (singular)” appear
often. I’m going to read these personal
verses again, and remember, all these “you’s” in
verses 1-3 are singular.
These verses are personal and
at first that is scary. The notion that
God is angry with you (and not just angry with them, or with him, but with YOU)
is not popular; yet it is based in truth.
You cannot hide from God. You
cannot deflect his judgments any longer.
God is angry with you. What is
God angry about? He is angry with your
sins, the ones that are real and alive in your heart. He is angry when you kick him out of the
number one place in your heart and think, “God wants me and my family to be
happy, right? Therefore I’ll do what I
want.” He is angry with you when your
heart is filled with division, anger, tension…but not with peace and
forgiveness. He is angry with you when
He watches you falling into a pet sin addiction yet again. You can hide your sin from humans but you
can’t hide from God. The idea that God
is a jolly old soul of a teddy bear in heaven who laughs off your sin with a
chuckle simply is not true. God is holy;
and he is angry with you. It is personal.
But what did Isaiah say
next? Although you were angry with me;
your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Here’s the living water for your soul: God’s
comfort for you is just as personal as his anger over your sin. You can trust him and not be afraid. The same God who was angry over your sin now
provides your comfort. How can this be? It can only be true because of who Jesus is
and what Jesus has done. God is not an
uncaring God off in the clouds; no, he is a God full of compassion for
you. God has decided, in his love, to
send a substitute for you. God poured out his anger on Jesus so he won’t pour
it out on you.
The message of God’s anger is
personal. The message of God’s
forgiveness is just as personal. And
notice that we don’t comfort ourselves.
The LORD is your personal stronghold.
The LORD is your personal sure defense.
The LORD will be your Savior.
And the more you read the
Scriptures, the more you realize how personal that message is. Forgiveness from God is a real gift for you
and not just for everyone else. It
doesn’t matter what you have done. It
doesn’t matter how many times you have fallen.
God was angry with you but now has comforted you. And what does this personal message inspire
you to do? The personal message of God
makes you want to talk – God’s message of forgiveness is personal but it isn’t
just for you. It’s a personal message
intended for all people. Look at all of
the words that spill out of the mouths of a well-watered soul in verses 4-6 (read 4-6).
Give thanks! Call upon his name! Make known among the nations what he has
done! Proclaim that his name is exalted
(and not your name)! Sing to the
LORD! Shout aloud! Sing for joy!
And why do you do all those things?
Because great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst. He was personally angry with you – but
now has personally comforted you.
And he has provided personal comfort for the person you are talking to
as well.
Here’s another personal story
about someone who is excited to share God’s personal comfort with someone
else. It’s from someone who is teaching
English as a Second Language in
So we are in the Northeast
part of
Allow me to expand on the
term hard seat. The seats are made from the same material as the hard
mats used in a 1970s gym class. Six people are squeezed around a tiny 12
inch wide by 2 foot long table. Not bad if there is no one else around
you. Thanks to Spring Festival, when EVERYONE, travels home...this was
not the case. Instead the entire car was packed. I mean
like...CATTLECAR packed. Why? Because if you cant buy a seat
ticket you can buy a standing ticket, which means you stand for the entire
train ride. Our ride was 20 hours. There were probably 150-200
people in a car made for 100 seats. I will let you imagine the
rest. Also...
In the midst of all this
craziness, a light shone into the darkness. Totally incredible. I
wanted to stand for a bit and allowed a Chinese person to take my seat. I
was reading Paustian’s "Prepared to Answer"
book (A definite read...Its AWESOME!) And a boy who spoke very little
English asked about it. I told him it wasn’t the good book but was like
the good book. He asked if I belonged to the body and I said yes. His
immediate response was an enthusiastic "Oh teach me teach me!"
Unfortunately his English was not good enough and my Chinese wasn’t good enough
to tell what awesome news I had to share. BUT we happened to be carrying
the good book with us AND it was in English and Chinese! So after
pointing out some important passages we gave it to him as a gift and let him
explore. He began at the beginning and hungrily at the words for a half
hour. He finished about three chapters. NEVER in my ENTIRE life did
I EVER even IMAGINE that I would be doing HIS work on that nasty, disgusting,
smoke filled train. I suppose HE decides when and where. Not
us! May HE also give you the opportunity to share Him today!
May the Lord give more of us
sleepless nights because we’re so excited about witnessing our faith to others!
When you are spiritually de-hydrated,
nothing ever seems quite right. But when
you are spiritually filled to the brim, even when less-than-ideal things come
up, everything goes just fine. Even if
you’re on a packed, smoke-filled train in
Are you spiritually
dehydrated? Are you lethargic in your
faith? Do you struggle to volunteer time
or talents for church work? Do you find
yourself complaining about others more than encouraging others? Are you growing weary of witnessing to loved
ones who seem like they’ll never come around?
Are you trudging along to worship services rather than rejoicing at the
chance to praise Jesus? Do you find
yourself always “kinda tired” and never really
content?
Here’s your problem – you are
spiritually dehydrated. You’ve
forgotten that God’s complete forgiveness is for you and your real, offensive
sins. You’ve forgotten God was
personally angry with you but his anger has turned away and instead he brings
you personal comfort. It’s not just a
message that applies to everyone else. It’s
for you. Soak in God’s complete
forgiveness for awhile and your lethargy, depression, complaining and
discontentment will disappear.
How much water do you need to
stay hydrated properly? They say the
average person needs about 8 glasses of water per day. How much Living Water do you need to keep
your faith hydrated properly? It’s
difficult to assign a number to that, but it’s safe to say a little sip in a
Sunday morning sermon isn’t enough to last through the week. Stay close to Jesus and to God’s Word all the
time, every day, thinking about your Savior often. Amen.