Fresh water

Every morning I call out to my three cats, “Who wants to go potty?” and like clockwork, all three without hesitation trot down to the basement where I keep the litter pans. I do this because one—Gideon—was having issues with not using the litter box. The Lord directed me to make litter pan time as pleasurable as possible, and for cats, that means not only clean litter, but also treats, strokes, and congratulatory baby talk for proper litter pan use. Don’t knock it; it works for us.

I also keep a water bowl downstairs, up on a counter. After litter pan scooping and treats, I call out, “Who wants fresh water?” and rinse out the bowl and refill it. This is a big deal for Gideon who likes to drink the water off of his paw, similar to the way three hundred men did who were chosen for his namesake’s army, the biblical Gideon.

One morning Cammie beat him to the water bowl. I must have been extra groggy, because evidently I didn’t announce the fresh water for his highness, Gideon. Cammie daintily lapped up some of it, and then Gideon noticed that she was in “his spot”. Shoving her out of the way, he sat. And sat. And sat. He looked at me as if to say, “Have you lost your mind, woman? Where’s my fresh water?”

Have you ever tried reasoning with an animal? I tried; it didn’t work. There Gideon sat, on his throne, staring at me, waiting for his fresh water.

Grumbling, I poured the perfectly fresh water into the sink and made a show of refilling the bowl. Gideon was meowing up a storm as I set Fresh Water 2.0 in front of him. Happy, he pawed it and drank his fill.

And then as soon as Gideon shut up, the Lord began talking. He showed me that even though the cat had already been given fresh water, he didn’t believe it. Gideon expected his water to arrive a certain way every day or he’d have nothing to do with it; he expected a showy presentation.

We believers have a tendency to be like Gideon if we aren’t careful. We have fresh, life-giving water available 24/7 in the pages of God’s Word, ready for the drinking, and yet so often we search here and there to “get a fresh word”. Like Gideon, we want to sit at the water bowl, refusing to drink until we get some showy presentation. Instead of majoring on drinking from the Word ourselves, we want to know “But what does Brother or Sister So and So have to say about it?” In other words, we wait for someone else to serve our water; all too often we don’t trust that the Bible water we get on our own is “fresh”.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s imperative to join regularly in fellowship with others to hear the Word. But what about in between these “pit stops”?

If the only water you drink is from another person’s hand once or twice a week, be careful—you’re in grave danger of dehydration. And by the same token, if your primary source for spiritual edification is random “words” from various people, you may not be getting true water at all! There is only one “sure word of prophecy” and that’s the Bible, sitting right there on your table or desk. Don’t be afraid to open it on your own and drink long and often. It’s guaranteed fresh, 24/7.

It’s sort of cute when Gideon the cat expects a showy presentation before he’s willing to drink his fresh water. But for grown Christians to search for a “word from God” everywhere except their own Bible? That’s not cute. That’s dangerous.

Dorothy

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19