Corona Devo 617

Our minds are crowded. So many people, conversations, events, tweets, texts, to-do's, assignments, burdens, joys, stresses, have-to's, want-to's, and need-to's.

Our hearts are crowded. Overflowing with compassion, sorrow, joy, hurt, resentment, fear, hope, love and expectation.

Our lives are crowded. Some of us are crowded with non-stop busy and distraction. Some of us are crowded with uninterrupted nothing: Lonely, empty, depressed.

In every sense of the definition: We are crowded.

Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds... ~John 7:37

Jesus shouts to our crowded minds, hearts and lives today!

Listen, Crowded Ones:

...Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! (38) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (39) (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)  ~John 7:37-39

Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds... ~John 7:37

Stop here.

Imagine this: Jesus, the lamb of God...Jesus, the Son of the Most High God shouted to the crowds... (John 7:37).

It is rare to find Jesus "shouting" in Scripture, but he was determined to get his message across to anyone within earshot that day, and this one.

Are we listening today?

We are in that crowd. That crowd is in us.

Stop bustling. Stop running. Stop being distracted.

Step out of the crowd of fear/heaviness/anxiety surrounding us.

Jesus is shouting at us so that we will hear His words of life over the din that we've created.

...Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! (38) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” ~John 7:37-38

Jesus, we ARE thirsty. You see our crowded lives, hearts, and minds, and you know our dry and staleness. You break through it with Your Word and Your promise of refreshment and rivers of living water. We are thirsty and we drink You in today!

We have an advantage over the crowd that Jesus shouted to in these verses--the Holy Spirit. (And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. (17) He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.   ~John 14:16).

Because Jesus had not yet been crucified, died, and had not risen from the dead yet (never forget the miracle of WHO JESUS IS)...the Holy Spirit had not entered the picture, and nor had the Holy Spirit entered those that were listening to Jesus as He shouted in the crowded streets that day. (But the appointed time of death and resurrection of Jesus was coming quickly--Just a few chapters away in the book of John.) And this is how and why Jesus referenced the Spirit when He shouted:

“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! (38) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (39) (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)  ~John 7:37-39

The good news for us today is that the Spirit HAS been given to everyone believing in Him, and even in spite of our crowded hearts, minds, and lives...we believe! We may get side-tracked and overwhelmed and off-track and under-attack, but we do believe in Jesus.

And so hear His voice today. He's shouting for us to hear: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! (38) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” ~John 7:37-38

If we truly listen with our heart and mind, the crowds within them are silenced by the words of Jesus. Where distraction, depression, lack-of-peace, and fear once were...rivers of living water begin flowing.

Come, let's drink.

If Jesus is willing to shout into our crowded lives today, let's drink in His living water.


Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com

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