Reservoirs

A hundred years ago, my area was a desolate scrubland of rocks and sagebrush. Today, orchards and other crops thrive amidst a crisscrossing of irrigation canals or pipes. They, in turn, are fed by a vast system of reservoirs. Seeing these reminds me of an ancient quote by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): “If then you are wise, you will show yourself to be a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.”(1)

In other words, the church has a lot of people with shallow, quick answers. But without input from the true Source, they run dry. They need the instruction and encouragement that comes from “reservoir” believers of depth and regular replenishment.

Bible-times people would have understood the reservoir analogy. Their arid climate had only two annual rainy seasons, May and October. To store that precious water, people built reservoirs and underground stone cisterns. One of my Bible reference books shows a photo of three large reservoirs, called “Solomon’s Pools,” a couple miles south of Bethlehem, supplying Old Jerusalem. Pine trees and palms surrounded the still waters.

The continual come-and-go of water keeps reservoirs from becoming stagnant, like swamps. By analogy, when there’s no giving-out of ourselves, we become foul spiritual swamps.

How do more mature believers become reservoirs to nurture others? One insight comes from Marva J. Dawn in her book, To Walk and Not Faint (Eerdmans, pp. 67-68). Drawing from analogies in Psalm 23, she wrote: “With what variety and thoroughness the Lord provides so that his people are fed. He nurtures us through the disciplines of our own devotional times and private meditations. He propels us by means of teachers and preachers and practitioners of His Word. He sustains us through the vitality of Christian communities and assemblies of believers. He nourishes us through music. He uplifts us with breathtaking sunsets and the myriad hues of flowers. Truly, the Lord, our shepherd, endows us so that we shall not want.”

How might you describe your spiritual “water” condition? Dry with faithlessness? Stagnant like a swamp? Quickly emptied, like a canal? Or continually replenished while giving out, like a reservoir? To such “giving out” people I owe a great debt for the spiritual nurture I’ve received over many years.

For all of us, that invitation remains: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1).


(1) Quoted in Richard Foster,Prayer: Find ing the Heart’s True Home (New York: Harper/SanFrancisco, 1992), p. 168.