Water is life. On June 6th, the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine was bombed, affecting areas of Ukraine in different ways. The immediate pictures were of the intense flooding just south of the dam, but then, within hours and days, it began affecting northern communities on the kakhovka reservoir, including the community where my husband and I spent eleven years of our life.
in the aftermath, many people resorted to trying to fix blame on one side or another, trying to infer from the event which side would suffer more, but the reality is that the incident could cost many Ukrainian and Russian lives alike. The small community where the ministry that we are still a part of was drained, leaving the area without water, but there is a harm that looms much greater.
In addition to supplying an entire region with water, the reservoir fed a cooling pool for the Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Without the dam, the water level is now too low to feed that pool, placing the power plant in jeopardy. It is now a ticking time bomb if they can’t figure out how to keep the nuclear reactors cool. Fallout from a potential meltdown will impact Russia dramatically as prevailing winds move north and east.
In the short term local need, The church has been able to dig two shallow wells in the village where the rehab center is located. This will allow them to water crops and livestock, as well as help the neighbors. I have been thinking a lot this week about how precious water is.
When NASA discovers a new planet, the first thing they look for is water. Because if there is water, there is a possibility that the planet can sustain life. Dehydration, on the other hand, can cause symptoms of dizziness, fatigue and headaches. In severe cases, dehydration can even be life-threatening. 71% of the earth is covered in water, yet 4-5 million die every year of dehydration, according to the National Library of Medicine
I like to drink coffee. Coffee is 99.9% water, but the caffeine makes it a diuretic, so it can actually cause your body to be dehydrated if you do not replenish liquids after having a ‘cup of joe’. You might be filling yourself with liquid, but not quenching your thirst. In fact, like my coffee habits, you could be making it worse.
How many of us can be going to church, singing songs, reading scripture and yet we have cut off access to living water? Many of us can be sitting in the pew every Sunday, and yet never drinking. We have the feeling of doing something meaningful, but without a deeper spirituality, like personal bible study time and prayer, we could be doing ourselves harm
Many people think of a missionary almost like a monk. They must have time to do nothing but study God’s word and pray and meditate. That was not the case with me, I often felt in Ukraine, that I was so occupied with the busy-ness of church, that I forgot to actually take a drink myself. I worked so hard to host bible studies, prepare lessons, homeschool, keep my home and house, teach Sunday school that I actually found myself bereft spiritually. I was dehydrated.
Spiritual dehydration can look like a strained marriage, depression, anxiety, stress. These can work their way into your physical well-being. Symptoms can be loss of sleep, chest pain, fatigue, mood swings, or a loss of appetite, just to name a few.
“And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one” – Zachariah 14:8,9
If you search phrases like “filled with the Holy Spirit” what you will find is that every time these words were written, something incredible happened. If I am drinking living water, I should notice the results. If not, I likely have allowed myself to become dehydrated.
The composition of the water molecule is the most well-known composition in the world. Everybody knows what one hydrogen and two oxygen are. Yet the two components separately are two of the most explosive elements on the table.
A hydrogen bomb has explosive capabilities 1,000 times greater than an atomic bomb. An atomic explosion is produced by splitting the atom, but a hydrogen bomb is created by forcing the atom together. Similarly, without the presence of oxygen, fire is extinguished. However, oxygen in its condensed form can cause incredible damage. Interestingly, God combined these two elements to make life giving substance, and Jesus used this to teach us the power and life giving nature of the Holy Spirit; Living Water.
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:14
Maybe not a destructive explosion, but to the receiver it might feel like an explosion, when they allow him to quench all the avenues of their life that feel so parched. Work, family, home, and church.
Many of us want to keep this water to ourselves for fear of rejection. Instead we need to be holding that cup of water out for others to drink We just need to be careful that we are not holding a diuretic. When Christians turn in on themselves it feels more like a diuretic then thirst quenching water, that is not the work of the Holy Spirit.
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
– Revelation 22:1,2