Gihon Spring and Spiritual Disciplines

In the past two posts we looked at the Gihon spring on the lower east side of Jerusalem and the some of the ancient and historic engineering strategies by Jerusalem’s inhabitants to protect the spring from invaders and to channel the spring water down to the Pool of Siloam in the south part of the city for easier access by Jerusalem’s citizens. Hezekiah’s tunnel and the Siloam pool are still being used today tourists can walk the length of it and archeological excavations continue to uncover its marvels.

Hezekiah illustrates the partnership between nature and human development. Every city, no matter how blessed it is with natural resources, needs human ingenuity to protect and develop it. This partnership shows up in many areas of life where natural gifts must be supplemented by human initiative.

Centuries after Hezekiah, Jesus healed a blind man in Jerusalem by daubing his eyes with mud and sending him to wash in the pool of Siloam. This healing illustrates the blend of the human and the divine. God gives us revelation and sight, but God invites – no, requires - us to participate.

There is an art to stillness in life, being receptive and beholding with wonder and appreciation. There is another equally vital art, the art of initiative, the dynamic art of industry, strategy and technique, modifying things and achieving results. Civilization depends on both these arts. It is obvious in the field of water resource management - exploiting the supply, respecting its limits and ensuring its safety and replenishment for tomorrow. It takes a lot of wisdom to know which art to practice when.

Christian spirituality is rooted deeply in the free grace of God, the all-sufficiency of Jesus and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Bible urges us to action, to “make every effort to add to our faith, goodness, etc” (2 Peter 1:3-5), to pursue holiness. Spiritual disciplines of engagement serve to stimulate and promote a healthy inner life; disciplines of abstinence help to curb the vices that easily pollute the spring within and rob us of joy and vitality.

Like Hezekiah, we need to protect the wellspring of our lives if we want to sustain our souls. Because, face it, we’re under siege every day. Forces and pressures around us will invade (or seep into) our hearts with greed, envy, discouragement, distorted vision and values or just sheer fatigue. We have to protect the well. We need habits of the heart and of life that channel the water of the Spirit’s spring to the quiet place where we can be nourished.

Church-planter and consultant Jay Gurnett applies this insight to the tasks of evangelism. He notes the difference between natural meandering rivers and engineered canals and explores them as metaphors for two approaches in evangelism – things that we let just happen and things we initiate and intentionally organize in order to get the water of life out to the world. Prayer and planning, waiting and strategizing, faith and works - both are needed and both call for humility and wisdom.

Prayer:
Source of Living Water, help us to attend to the well within, to protect the wellspring of our hearts from which our words and attitudes flow, the decisions and actions that shape our character and the impact of our lives. And give us courage and creativity to join you in your initiatives and to initiate where you give us opportunity to bring your touch into our world. Amen.

Image Sources:
Diagram of Hezekiah's Tunnel - GenerationWord
The Blind Man Washes - James Tissot, 1836-1902
Weir on River Mole - Geograph