Through this focused season of preparation, we arrive at Easter Sunday with a new awareness and appreciation of Christ’s defeat of sin and new resurrection life.   

Last year's devotional offers reflections on the powerful image of water throughout the Bible.  

Water is truly an essential element. Nearly 75% of our planet’s surface is covered by water. The human body itself is 70% water; more water than anything else.  You could survive for weeks, even months without food, but depending upon your health and the heat, you could only survive days without h2o.  Frankly, without water there is no life.

All throughout Scripture life is connected to water. All things were brought to life out of the primordial waters of Gen. 1:1. Creation was destroyed and renewed via flood. God’s people were redeemed through a sea, and crossed a river to receive a promised land. Life is sustained and refreshed by water. The picture of eternity presented in Revelation 22 is teeming with unending fruitful life around a river – “the river of the water of life.” The Bible confirms that without God’s provision of water, we would have no life.

Have you ever been so parched and dry of mouth that you actually longed, even craved for water?  It feels like death.

Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness formed the pattern for the church’s season of Lent, where 40 days are set aside for reflection, teaching, and anticipation of the resurrection celebration. I can only imagine how dry Jesus’ mouth was after 40 days in the wilderness. The heat alone would have felt like death. The emotional exhaustion of facing Satan’s temptations would have seemed unbearable. Jesus refused to make bread from stones for the satisfying nourishment of God’s Word. But we don’t know where, how, or if he found satisfaction for his thirst.

Jesus does make this clear for us, though.  Our soul’s thirst is quenched in Him. When we are thirsty for truth, when we are weary, discouraged, and in need of soul refreshment, when we long for our lives to be full of their fundamental purpose, Jesus bids us to come to Him and find fresh bubbling waters that never cease or dry up (John 4:13-14).

Last year’s Lenten devotional will introduce you to the Bible’s central texts on the life-giving theme of water. May you find the deep thirst of your soul satisfied with the living waters that Jesus provides.

And stay tuned--the 2010 Devotional will be here soon.