Digging a Well With Sticks

This is a little known story about the children of Israel, after the serpent on the pole incident. The story is found in Numbers 21:16-18a. "And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, Well; sing ye unto it: The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves."

   Have you ever heard of people digging wells with sticks? Why certainly not! But why did Moses command them to do such a silly thing? Because, God wanted to show them, that He was the one that was going to provide them with the water; not them.  Yet, at the same time, God wanted them to do something, God provided them with the water, as they worked on digging.  

   This is the way that God wants us to be saved!  See, when we come to Jesus, we come to Him not in our own righteousness,  because in ourselves, it is impossible for us to cleanse ourselves from sin, just as those elders of Israel couldn't dig that well with some sticks! 1 Timothy 1:9 says,"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,"   But at the same time, we are to show that God has wrought a change in our lives, by living according to the principles of God's Holy Law, just as the elders did start digging with their staves. 

   Those elders could have said,'Oh, if God provides us with the water, I don't need to do anything, after all, it seems so silly to dig with just some sticks!' James 3:17,22 says, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone....Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works, was faith made perfect?"   But God would not have given them the water, if they would not have shown that they had faith in what God said, by doing all in their power, to make it come to pass.    
    Also, to most people, it seems silly to forsake a pleasurable, and sinful life, in exchange for some thought of paradise called heaven.  Just as it seems so silly to dig a well with sticks.  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
   So let us not be scared to do the Lord's Will even if it seems crazy to the rest of the world around us.  Proverbs 16:3 says, "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." 

                                Who Do We Reflect? Part II

Another lesson we can learn from water reflecting its surroundings, is that water reflects its surroundings best when the water is still. When water in a stream is flowing, it will hardly reflect anything because the water is flowing too fast. But when the current slows down, it will start reflecting its surroundings again.

  There is a spiritual lesson we can learn from this. If we get too busy and rushed in our lives, our ability to imitate our Savior will become more and more dim, until people can't see Jesus in our lives anymore!  Jesus wants to take time out of our busy lives and slow down and contemplate His Character, and spend time in prayer and in studying the Word.  Psalm 46:10a says, "Be still, and know that I am God" We will obviously grow closer to God, when we take some time out for quiet time with the Lord.
   This reminds me of the story of when Jesus went to Martha's, Mary's and Lazurus's, house.  The story is found in Luke 10:38-40, "Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." So we see from this that Martha wasn't wanting Mary to do something wrong, but she was more concerned about giving Jesus a fancy meal, rather than taking time to listen to Jesus.  So it is wrong if we can get too busy even doing good things, if that crowds out time with our Savior!
  One time, when Jesus was ministering to the people that came to Him, Jesus told His disciples to go out of the villages and rest awhile, they didn't even have enough time to eat. So, Jesus saw that they really needed to rest their bodies, and  refresh their minds as well. Mark 6:31
    So let's take some time out of our busy lives, and spend some time at the feet of Jesus.  

But this stream is moving so fast, that we can't see any reflection of anything because it is too hurried!

We see that this stream has slowed down with very little current, so as a result, it is reflecting its surroundings quite well.