An Empty Cup

“They are so thirsty,”  He said.  

With my eyes clenched shut, I was taken to a desert…Dust flying, sun scorching– an endless stretch of barren ground.  People were everywhere; they were digging with shovels and bare hands.  They were looking for water.

As I stood there watching this scene, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned around to see Him.  He had a giant bucket in one hand, a ladle in the other, and a smile on his face.  I held a cup; it was dry as a bone.  I offered it to Him, and He filled it full of water.  He filled it so full, it started to spill out the top.  I drank every last drop.   It tasted so cool and sweet.  Never had anything satisfied more.

Suddenly, I saw Him fix His eyes on something behind me.  I turned to follow His gaze and saw a person on the ground.  She was on her knees, surrounded by mounds of earth, clawing at the ground.  She was dripping in sweat and coated in a thick layer of dust.

I knew what He wanted me to do.  I held up my emptied cup once again, and He filled it.  “I promise I won’t spill it,” I said.  I cautiously stepped my way over to her. I held out my cup; she hesitated at first, looking around at her piles of dirt.  She had been digging for a while.  She timidly took the cup in her cracked and bloodied hands.  She drank it dry.  Total satisfaction and joy spread across her face.

I ran back to Him.  She drank it! I held up my cup once again, and He filled it to the brim.  I found another digger, offered the water, and they drank it!  When I turned around, I saw others running to Him, holding out their own cups!  Swarms of us were dashing around with cups full of water, giving them to any that would drink.  Adrenaline was shooting through my veins, and water was spilling out everywhere!

I found another person on the ground.  With pure, child-like excitement, I offered them the cup of cool, sweet water. They took it, looked inside, and dumped it on the ground right in front of me.  My mouth gapped open.  They kept on digging.  “I’ll find my own water,” they said.  I couldn’t believe it. Why would they keep digging when I found the source of water?

I ran back to Him again, He filled it, and I ran back to them.  Again, they poured it out at my feet.  I looked down at my feet and saw the precious water forming sticky, black mud.

The Father gave me this vision several days ago, and it shifted something inside me.  All I have to offer Him is my emptiness.  I cannot love others, serve others, or speak life into others without His pour.  I can do nothing apart from Him.  He is Living Water that is guaranteed to satisfy.   I wish that all would receive His sweet gift, but many will reject it.  Those who take and drink, however, will never go thirsty again.  That is His Promise.  

Keep running back to Him with your empty cup, friends; let Him fill it to the brim.  Our world is so desperately thirsty.