In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.

Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

(Isaiah 12:1-6 NIV)

I want to look at verse 3 of this reading especially today:

With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

We don’t live in the Middle East so it’s somewhat difficult to understand the idea of the scarcity of water. Think about how powerful this image of the wells of salvation would be to a village who had been experiencing drought.

Image source

Water is an image used throughout the bible for God’s blessing and cleansing and of course it is in baptism that we are brought through the waters of salvation. Jesus also, in John’s gospel speaks of the living water:

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13, 14 NIV)

Jesus says this as he is talking to a woman at a well.

Consider the image of the well – how do you get water from it?

A well needs to be visited, and regularly. Jesus death and resurrection once and for all paid the price for our sin but to enjoy and rejoice in our salvation we do need to keep returning to the well to receive the living water he promises us. We need to be topped up!

I think sometimes we see God’s blessing as more like an ever flowing tap (like the taps in Starbucks that run non-stop) where the biblical image is one of a deep and full well. The well never dries up but if you don’t take your bucket there to be filled it will remain empty.

How long have you gone without drawing on the ‘wells of salvation’?