God’s Fountain

Our daughter was married last week on the beach in the Florida Keys. She took a few hundred photographs, many of the sparkling ocean or scenes around a crystal clear pool. She has always loved the water. We woke this morning to the fresh air and beauty around her home (in South Carolina) and had breakfast looking at her photos, and professional pictures of their wedding taken with white sand and a silvery blue background. Most of these also featured water. Today’s devotional reading is about water too, but a different kind.

On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. (Zechariah 13:1)

When the Word of God speaks of cleansing from sin, blood or water, or both, are often used in the description. The blood of Christ was shed that I might be forgiven and cleansed. The water of His Word is also part of that cleansing. All I need to do is confess my sin and God does the rest.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

The idea of this cleansing is also pictured as a fountain, as in the verse from Zechariah. Because I have faith in Jesus Christ, I also have faith that He will do as He promises, faith in that fountain. Therefore, whenever I sin, I go to that fountain. 

God has taught me to be careful to avoid two errors. One is thinking that my sin is too great and God will not forgive me. The other is thinking my sin is so small that it doesn’t matter or mean much. I’ve heard, and even made excuses like; “Everyone does it” or “It really isn’t so bad” but know that there is no sin too small that it does not lead to more sin. What starts out as a seed can become a huge weed, even a tree.

I also know the other extreme, but God’s Word teaches me that there is no sin so enormous that it cannot be washed away with a mere drop of atoning, blood, which is as powerful as being plunged into the depths of the sea. For this, I rejoice.

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Lord, our journey yesterday was almost a comedy of errors. Our booking was entered incorrectly somewhere along the line and we nearly wound up in the wrong city. Our luggage would have gone there too, had not an airline worker been able to pull it and get it to us. We had booked a car, cancelled it, but then needed it again and discovered that the cancellation had not gone through, so it sat waiting for us. In this, and in all the other mix-ups, we sensed Your hand and are thankful for the care You give us, yet nothing compares to the fountain opened for cleansing. Without it, our sin and uncleanness would be no comedy but a tragedy. Praise to You for Your grace in washing away the filth of our sin.