From time to time different assemblies are able to act on the Lord’s word to Moses. “Gather the people together and I will give them water.” Being so gathered, the saints are dependent on God and need to cry, “Spring up, O well” (Num. 21:17). This is a wilderness scene, and the nobles stand there with staves in token of their pilgrim character, and at the command of the lawgiver they dig the desert sand. This would be utterly futile under ordinary circumstances, but in the goodness of God the refreshing waters spring up and a song breaks forth.
Achsah was a woman of expectant faith, such faith as God delights to own by giving abundantly above all we ask or think. She moved her husband, Othniel, to ask of her father a field. Caleb gave them a goodly portion of south land. But a south land without water would soon be dried up, so she asks further. “Give me also springs of water” (Josh. 15:18-19). So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Upper Springs
God has brought us into the sunshine of His favor, and He gives also upper springs and nether springs to maintain our souls in freshness and fertility in the enjoyment of that favor, despite all that would come in to wither them. We drink of the upper springs when we look up and find everything in God. The psalmist in Psalm 87:7 says, “All my springs are in Thee.” He was drawing unreservedly of the upper springs which are inexhaustible. So was also the Apostle James when he wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
Nether (Lower) Springs
May God give us to drink deeply into our eternal springs, that we may “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11). But we are in a world that is contrary to us, where sickness, sorrow and suffering abound and sometimes affect ourselves and our loved ones. Then we need to fall back upon the nether springs and find God in everything. Paul was assured of this when he wrote in Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Our hearts should draw from that same blessed assurance. These things that seem most painful and sad, and we might think so unlike Him, are among the “all things” in which He is and which He is working together for our good.
Hezekiah learned that his sickness and bitter tears were among the things “by [which] men live,” and in which was the life of his spirit (Isa. 38:16). We think so much of our temporal blessings, but God, while supplying our necessities, has specially in view our spiritual welfare. He would have us find, in trying and sorrowful circumstances, those nether springs whereby our spiritual welfare is maintained and increased. This is blessedly evidenced in Psalm 84:5-7. The man whose heart is in God’s ways, while passing through the valley of Baca, or weeping, makes it a well. Being refreshed thereby, he goes from strength to strength, making the trials and sorrows, as it were, stepping-stones to greater nearness to God.
Digging Wells
We get words of warning and encouragement in Genesis 26:15-20. Isaac found that the wells which his father had dug, the Philistines had stopped with earth. The world would seek to occupy the believer with earthly things so as to choke up the wells of refreshment and instruction in the truths of God which the saints of previous generations, now at rest, have dug for us as recorded in their writings. Dig them again, so that we may get the good out of that which the Spirit unfolded to them. But do not stop at digging again the old wells; Isaac dug fresh ones. The enemy sought to oppose and hinder him, as he always does, but spiritual energy triumphed, and the well Rehoboth gave him peace and plenty.
Let me urge the young not only to read the valued writings of men taught of God, but to study the Word diligently with the Spirit’s guidance. The water of these fresh wells opened up by you, in dependence on and communion with God, will be even sweeter and fresher than those others have dug for you.
Springs of Water
“A spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song of Sol. 4:12). Such is the spouse to the bridegroom. Hitherto we have been considering what God is for us and what springs of living water He provides for us, but this verse gives us what we, as the spouse, are to Christ. The thought in “shut up and sealed” is similar to that of the “garden enclosed”: something reserved for His special delight, something to be partaken of and used when and how He pleases. In John 4:14 our Lord Jesus speaks of the well of water springing up into everlasting life. Here the well-spring that He has put within the believer is opened, or unsealed, and in the power of the Holy Spirit springs up to God its source, in that worship in Spirit and in truth which He seeks and which gives refreshment to His heart.
What a privilege that the overflowing of such hearts as ours, filled by Himself, can thus rise up in that which gives joy to Him, even our praises, worship and thanksgiving. In John 7:37-38 the Lord Jesus promises to give the thirsty one who comes to Him living water in abundance. When He opens the floodgates, “rivers of living water” flow outward to thirsty ones around in the power of the Holy Spirit that He was going to give them when He had been glorified. Thus, in the springing upward and flowing outward, the Lord is refreshed and glorified.
Outflowing Rivers
In connection with rivers flowing from one center, see how in Genesis 2:10 we are told that Eden’s river flowed out, parting into four heads, carrying blessing and refreshment universally. This is the opposite of earth’s rivers where several small ones unite to form a large one. With God’s wells or rivers, the fullness is so infinite that it may part and yet flow with undiminished fullness and power. May we learn increasingly to rejoice in all that God is to us and for us! Thus we find, in both the upper and the nether springs, the satisfying and sustaining portion of our souls. As a result, Christ may receive the up-springing waters of adoring worship and be glorified by the outflowing rivers in service for Him at His bidding.
W. H. Fosbery (adapted)