Upper and Lower Springs
EXPLORATION
"Stretch out your hand! Let no human soul wait for a benediction."
Marie Corelli
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Have I stretched out my hand to receive my heavenly Father's blessings?
Do I believe that my heavenly Father is faithful from the beginning to the end of my life?"
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
Thomas Ken
INSPIRATION
"All my springs are in Thee."
Psalm 87: 7
There are times when I'm working on a devotional and find myself so excited about the topic I can scarcely wait to work on the study. This is exactly how I have felt about the lessons we have learned from the lives of Caleb and his daughter, Achsah.
Caleb, the father, we found out had 4 specific features that are qualities also present in our Heavenly Father. Caleb saw things as they were, yet in spite of giants and walled cities blocking the path into the Promised Land, he believed God was capable of anything. With his God in charge, victory was assured. Caleb was also a father whose heart was wide open to the needs of his child, just like our own Heavenly Father. Caleb also possessed strength that never waned, because the person he drew his strength from, our Heavenly Father, has an unending supply of strength for all of us. And last, Caleb exemplified the same trust in His Heavenly Father from beginning to end.
With features like this radiating from his life, it is no wonder that Achsah, Caleb's daughter, had no hesitation coming to her father and asking him to meet the needs in her life.
As we found out yesterday, before Caleb's daughter could even get a request out of her mouth, her father already intended to answer her need.
Today, in our text in Joshua 15: 19, we find that Achsah told her father she had been given the "south land" or as the Hebrew states, "eres hannegeb." The word "hegeb" means "dry." This is because the southern area in Palestine was dry like a desert. Achsah was saying to her father that she owned "unproductive land."
When she came to her father, this is what she asked for. "Give me also springs of water." She wasn't bashful. She came with boldness and confidence to her father who loved her, and requested, "My soil needs water in order to be fruitful."
How often have you felt like your soil, the field of your life, needed water from your Father in order to become a fertile field? I know I have. I certainly have need for God's springs that never run dry.
Perhaps you've been a Christian a long time and don't believe you are like the woman at the well who was thirsty. You may feel you are doing quite well, thank you! Your life story isn't as desperate as this divorcee. But believe me, all of us long for and so urgently need the water of life that will make it possible for us never to thirst again.
This is what Achsah wanted from her father. "Dad, please give me a spring to water my dry land." And now is where this story surpasses all our dreams and goes to the realm that the Apostle Paul told the Christians in Ephesus about, what our God will do "exceedingly, above all that we ask or think." (Ephesians 3: 20).
Joshua 15: 19 states, "(Caleb) gave her the upper springs and the lower springs." WOW! This wasn't, as some might think, twice as much as she asked for, this was all there was to give. You see, if Achsah had the upper springs that meant the water from the top flowed down throughout all the land. The upper springs on a piece of property contain the water from the source. As the water flowed through the land, everything was fed. What's more, the springs on the lower land only increased in size because everything flowed down to them. Talk about water never running dry. Achsah hit the jackpot. A fertile land that was filled with all the bounty possible because water sources were everywhere.
Daughters of God, (and His sons, too) this is exactly what Jesus promised a woman who had six husbands at a well in Sychar. He told her, "I'm giving you the upper spring, the lower spring, and everything in between. And when you drink of the flood I'm pouring into your life, I promise, you'll never thirst again – ever!"
Today you may feel as though your heart and life are an arid desert. Dried up. There's no water for miles around. Your lips are cracked and parched. Your mouth is dry and you feel like you'll faint in the heat of a life burned out.
Come to the Father! In the words of Isaiah, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isaiah 55: 1). Then in Isaiah 55: 3, our Father promises that when we come to Him, "Your soul shall live."
We will be rejuvenated by the springs that bring the water of life from every direction into our lives.
Over a year ago, just as Transformation Garden began, I became a little overwhelmed, worried about having enough material for the devotionals and concerned about the time it would take to study for these lessons. One day, in the mail, a dear praying friend sent me a card with this quote by S.D. Gordon, "More is being planned for you by God than had been prayed for by us." I read this quote everyday – it's taped to the wall above the phone in my kitchen. Daily, I'm reminded that my dry heart, my dry words, my dry pen, are drawing on the upper springs and the lower springs – and every other fountain that flows from my Father's unending supply.
Daughters of God, let's draw from the springs of our Father. If there is any moment when you feel dryness taking over the field of your life, ask your Dad for a spring of water – and you know what, plan ahead – for He won't just give you two springs, He'll give you all He has to give! A flood is on the way!
"There are many locks in my house and all with different keys, but I have one master-key which opens them all. The Lord has many treasures and secrets all shut up from (earthly) minds with locks which they cannot open. But (she) who walks in fellowship with Jesus, possesses the master-key which will open to (her) all the blessings ...even the very heart of God."
Charles Spurgeon
AFFIRMATIONS
"Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber.
Holy angels guard thy bed.
Heavenly blessings without number,
Gently falling on thy head."
Isaac Watts
A Hymn
"And (she) shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite (her); for He that hath mercy on (her) shall lead (her), even by the springs of water shall He guide (her)."
Isaiah 49:10
King James Version
