Nov 22
21
Muddy streams and broken, leaky cisterns(By John MacDuff)
“Come! Let him that is athirst, come—and
whoever will, let him take of the water of life freely!” Revelation 22:17
Thirsty? who is not thirsty? It is the cry of
universal humanity! Who does not feel that this
world is presenting us with muddy streams and
broken, leaky cisterns. Who does not feel, in
their moments of deep and calm reflection, when
we are brought face to face with the great enigma
of existence—that the world is serving up fadedflowers instead of those redolent with imperishable
fragrance, and glowing with unfading bloom.
Prodigal! Wanderer from God, exile from peace,
roaming the forest haunts of sin, plunging deeper
and deeper into their midnight of ruin and despair;
has an arrow wounded your heart? Are you, in your
agony, seeking rest and finding none—having the
gnawing feeling of dissatisfaction with all created
things, and an undefined longing for a solace they
cannot give? Yes! for your gaping, bleeding wound
there is “balm in Gilead, and a Physician there!”
“Yes, Lord! I come! Thirsty, faint, forlorn, wounded,
weary! I come, just as I am, without one plea. You
are all I need, all I require—in sickness and health,
in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death, in time
and through eternity!”