Endless Wells of Joy

Working with an orphanage in the remote rural heartland of Moldova in eastern Europe, we learned a lot about wells. The water supply at the orphanage would seem to be okay for a while and then it would simply dry up. We had to resort to trucking in barrels of water from the city, 90 kilometers away. It was literally the only way to make sure the kids wouldn’t die of thirst.

After navigating through the maze of Moldova’s communist-modeled bureaucracy, we eventually found the government department with the right people to help us. A huge study was done, and one day I sat across the desk from the government engineer as he very proudly unrolled his sheets of plans and technical papers and showed me the problem. “Your well is in the wrong place,” he said, “and you need to go much deeper. Look, there’s plenty of water there, but the well you have can’t reach it.”

Sure enough, thanks to a generous sponsor, we got to work on a new well, and drilled down to where the water supply flowed without limit. There’s never been a problem with water since then because our well is tapped into the proper water source, so it can supply all we need and more.

The right well in the right place will save your life, and when Isaiah wrote these words, few things were more highly prized in that arid climate than a well that supplied free-flowing, clear, cool water. Such wells were crucial to survival, and the evocative word picture given by the prophet is no less compelling today, even in our modern world. Everyone understands that you can’t survive without water, but here Isaiah is saying that there is a limitless supply of something even more essential than that. The wells Isaiah is talking about are connected to the One who said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way.” (John 7:37-38, The Message).

The wells of salvation are plentiful. Matthew Henry said it this way: “God’s promises revealed, ratified, and given out to us, in his ordinances, are wells of salvation; wells of the Saviour (so some read it), for in them the Saviour and salvation are made known to us and made over to us.” The wells are filled with endless supply, “waters to swim in,” (Ezekiel 47:5), if you will. The joy that comes as we draw from these wells is as endless as the resources of the One who offers it to us freely. Simply put, He is offering you endless wells of joy!