The Scent of Water - Wells of Hope

In Job 14, the beleaguered wise man asks a lot of questions trying to solve the riddle of life and death.

Using a string of similes, Job ponders our human mortality – we’re like flowers that wither, fleeting shadows, day laborers (here today, gone tomorrow), lakes and rivers that evaporate, soil and stone eroded by running water.

But knotted into this string of death images is the intriguing thing called hope. Is it a mirage? Is it a false dream, a futile longing, that our lives have meaning and significance? Or does the world contain hints that point to a reality bigger than death?


Nature gives lots of evidence that our mortality is the last word. We erode like mountains and we disintegrate. But it also hints in the other direction - a tree may be cut down, but at the scent of water it can sprout again Job 14:7-9. Torrential floods can rip apart a riverbank, but even the faintest trace of water is enough to animate the roots of a felled tree and bring renewal. "Nature is always on the brink of rebirth."*

But the hints don’t add up to a proof. Hope remains elusive. For every story of human redemption there were (and are) anguished stories of loss.

So for centuries we pondered Job’s riddle and re-worked his questions - until a breakthrough nobody expected. In the resurrection of Jesus, Hope gained new evidence. The failed disciple Peter, shame-ridden over his shocking failure to support Jesus, was restored and reinvigorated with hope through Jesus’ resurrection. And his story has been repeated a million times. Violence and death run rampant in the world, but Life and Hope prevail. And at the scent of that living water, the roots of hope sprout new life all over the place.

Wellspring International works for the release and renewal of women and children in serious at-risk environments. In her book "The Scent of Water - Grace for Every Kind of Broken", Wellspring director Naomi Zacharias tells moving stories of the liberating power of love and hope from her own and other women's lives.

Wells of Hope is another example of bringing practical hope to communities that desperately need water, work and other basics of life. Inspired by Jesus’s miracle of transforming water into wine, Niagara's Stoney Ridge Winery takes a portion of every wine-bottle purchase to finance wells and clean water, freeing women and girls in the hills of Guatamala from hours of water-hauling every day. That’s hope made real, the dream elusive no longer.

Job’s heart-wrenching questions reveal how universal is our search for hope. Programs like Wellspring and Wells for Hope give evidence that compassion, love and sacrifice can win the day over degradation and despair. The resurrection of Jesus became the living hope, the scent of water that gave hope new life.

*Glandion Carney and Wm R Long, The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible.

Image Source:
River Erosion, Yorkshire Dales - Steve Partridge, WikiCommons