River of Life

One day last week I was looking at something I wrote some time ago called 'The river of life' and thought that I might share it in a post on my blog.   I had put it in a little booklet that I had put together called 'And by the word of their testimony' which contains testimonies of experiences I have had over the years after coming to know the Lord.  Then, the following morning, I was reading chapter twenty five of the book of Job.   I have felt led to read a chapter of the book of Job each day because I feel that I have been in a 'Job' situation, having the enemy inflict more sickness and pain on me since I believe the Lord has told me that He will heal me from something I have had for over twenty five years.

As I came to verse 6 of Job twenty five I noticed that it read 'how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!'.  The version of the Bible that I have is The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

I thought 'How strange, the article that I thought to put up as a post on my blog contains an incident concerning maggots and worms.'  So it has prompted me to share that article.

The River of Life

Jesus said 'If anyone thirst let him come to me and drink.  He who believes in me, as the scripture has said 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'  We are told that He spoke this of the Spirit, which those who believed in Him were to receive after He was glorified.  We are also told in Ezekiel ch..47 that the river that flows from the temple brings life to every living thing where it goes and that there will be many fish in the waters that shall live because of it.  This indicates that the river of life is both in us and we in it.

I was on a photography course, and one of the women there had on a pink fleecy top with a zip up the front.  There was a tag on the zip shaped like a fish, it reminded me of the symbol that many people wear to identify themselves as Christian, and my first thought was 'Oh, I wonder if she is a  Christian?'  Then I noticed that the image was not really a fish but was actually the skeleton of a fish.  

When we went to lunch this lady bought some chocolate which, when she opened it, was found to have maggots in it.  When we returned to our lesson room, she told us of two fish she had bought which, when cut open, had tiny worms in them.  At the time we were also discussing Christianity and when I pointed out that it was strange that she had on her top a fish skeleton and she was experiencing finding worms and maggots in fish and chocolate, she said 'Maybe that's where I am going, down where the worms will get me.'



This incident made me think of how, as a Christian, I must be careful what I 'eat'.   I thought about how I could be robbed of spiritual growth, represented by the fish skeleton on the zip. The chocolate with the maggots in maybe representing allowing myself to just carry on 'eating' the goodies of this world, and what my carnal mind desires, and the two fish with the worms in them representing worldly doctrines within the Christian church (the fish being a symbol of Christianity).

However, it was not until I read the 6th verse from Job ch.25, relating man to maggots and worms that I could fully understand what the Lord was trying to show me through this incident, that I could wear the name of 'Christian', but still be 'carnal' depending on what I choose to feed upon.

When Daniel was taken to Babylon he refused to defile himself with the rich food and wine offered to him,  it was not permitted for the Jew to eat other than their own diet.  The word Babylon in the Hebrew language includes the word that means confusion, so Babylon in spiritual understanding can represent a place of confusion.  Babylon was particularly noted for being a place of pride and idolatry.   The church, as God's Israel, has its own spiritual diet in the form of God's word, and just as Daniel shone with physical health as a result of not eating what the Babylonian king offered, so too the church will shine in spiritual health as a result of eating Gods word revealed to us through Jesus, and not through doctrines fashioned to please the carnal mind.


If we try to be doers of the word spoken to us as individuals in Christ, then we can be likened spiritually to those fish that live in the sea where the river of life has gone.  They eat, drink and breathe the substance of that water in order to continue living.

Shortly after being on my photography course I was at a writers' meeting that I attended monthly, and I felt very strongly that I was to leave early to watch a television program on 'Time'.  One thing stood out to me in it.  Scientists have discovered, through research into the genes in our bodies, that there is no program for death in us.  There is a program in us for life and for maturity, but no program for death.  Right from creation we were meant to have eternal life with our creator.  It was only Adam's sin that induced a God given curse, which was fulfilled outside of the unique garden of blessing in which he had been placed after being formed from the dust of the ground.

The following is the poem that I wrote at the time.

River of Life

Oh river of life restore to me
the glory that was meant to be

Flow through this doubting, troubled heart
refreshing each and every part
that fails to recognize the name
of Holy Lamb that once was slain
for all I do to cause Him pain

Wash every evil carnal thought
with grace and love that Jesus bought

In waters of eternity
cause spirit lost to struggle free
to cast aside the filth and shame
that clings so tight to mortal frame
once more to wear the Father's name

Oh river of life restore to me
the glory that was meant to be

We are told that once he had sinned and felt convicted, Adam found himself 'naked'.    I believe this 'nakedness' also stands for the loss of eternal life and the being clothed with mortality.  In 2 Corinthians ch.5 v.4 we are told by Paul that 'we wait not to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.'  For two thousand years, because of our Lords wonderful sacrifice, the river of life in the form of the Holy Spirit has been flowing from the temple, enabling us to be no longer under that curse, and to be reconciled back to God.  If we swim in those waters of life, eating and drinking only what is provided in those waters, we shall truly live as we were meant to.