Good News Refreshes

Have you ever felt the relief of good news from a far country? Maybe news that the flight landed and everyone is safe. Or that your loved one is finally coming home. It is refreshing to hear of good news from far off, and the proverbial wisdom of Solomon tells us it is as refreshing as a cold drink of water to a thirsty soul.

"Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Proverbs 25:25.

This nugget is mixed in with what seems to be shot after shot of random wisdom... like notes taken during a lecture where you got the main points but not the connecting points. It is the glory of kings to seek after God. Words matter so watch what and how you say things. Don't encroach on your neighbor too much or he will hate you. Give your hungry enemy food and water. It is better to live on your roof than with a contentious wife. Don't eat too many sweets. And in the middle of all of that... good news is like cold water to a thirsty soul.

Has your soul ever been thirsty? Would you know what that feels like? I bet you do. I know I do. But I also know that you can live with a thirsty soul so long that it starts to feel normal. The longing for more. The end of struggle and tension and pain. That human itch for something... and we exhaust ourselves scratching the itch with this and that and the other thing.

What we itch for is this good news. This declaration of being chosen, loved, approved, claimed by God. It is knowing that the creator of the universe is crazy about you. When we hear this, the good news of Jesus, that he died as a substitute for us, to give us life, oh wow, how thirst quenching it is. The second that cold water hits the lips of our soul... refreshment.

But the thirst creeps back doesn't it? Things get hard, or stay hard. We doubt that God views us with gladness. And voice after voice screams that we are not what Jesus has said we are. So in the middle of all the wisdom, all the clue of life, all the proverbs, we need that good news. We need to find wells of refreshment and gospel reminder for our thirsty souls.

Friends, the sand that is too freely offered from the television, well-intentioned friends, and far too many pulpits, will only leave you thirsting to the point of thinking there is no hope for your dry soul.

There is though. The living water himself. Jesus will not leave you to wither. Look to him. Drink of his good news, that he loves you. And find better wells, those giving this cold water that is the gospel.

Be refreshed weary soul.

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