A Work Of Joy

A Reflection on the Psalm for December 16th, 2018:
​Third Sunday of Advent

ISAIAH 12:2-3, 4, 5-6

R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 

R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.

R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

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“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

Despite what my children seem to think, I am not so old that hot water and indoor plumbing are novelties. I know what it is to grow up with the usual mod cons of city living.

That said, I do remember going to the country as a child and collecting water at a well. One thing stands out in my memory: drawing water is hard work. I would push the pump handle with both my hands and all my strength until the suction gave way and rivers of cold water came crashing down into the bucket until it overflowed. Then, I would heave the bucket off the ground and stumble under its weight, splashing water onto my shoes and generally making a mess of myself.

How different is this from the experience Isaiah celebrates in his twelfth chapter, when he says: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”! What are these “wells of salvation,” and why is drawing water from them a labour of “joy” instead of plain old work?

I’m no biblical scholar, but I’m willing to bet Isaiah isn’t talking about ordinary H20 here. It seems to me that God is inviting us, as Jesus invited the Samaritan woman at the well, to satisfy our thirst with “living water,” which is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: “‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive” (John 7: 38-39).

Like the Samaritan woman, I want this living water. I’m done with being thirsty, with labouring for things that never satisfy. I want to experience the joy of drawing living water and being filled with the Spirit. So, how do I get it?

When Jesus redeemed me on the cross, He gave me access to the well of salvation. And, before ascending into heaven, Jesus gave us His Spirit, so I know an unlimited supply of the living water is waiting for me. What I need to do is prime the pump with prayer, scripture reading and the fellowship of others; pull up that living water by the grace of God; and keep the supply flowing constantly because there are holes in my bucket and it leaks.

"What I need to do is prime the pump with prayer, scripture reading and the fellowship of others; pull up that living water by the grace of God; and keep the supply flowing constantly because there are holes in my bucket and it leaks."

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Only in this way will I know each day the “joy and gladness” of being in the company of “the great and Holy One of Israel.” And in a way, I will be the well, because those “rivers of living water” will flow from my heart and into the hearts of others.

​Donna Davis

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