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Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:7; 11:11-12; Eph. 3:8; John 4:14; 7:37-39; 2 Cor. 6:8-10; Phil. 4:12-13
We will continue to see the goodness of the land. The land is good in many aspects. We have seen that it is good in its spaciousness and its ascendancy. Now we come to the matter that is the greatest — the unsearchable riches of the land. The land is good in its unsearchable riches. It is good in spaciousness, it is good in transcendency, and it is good in unsearchable riches.
First of all, it is rich in water. The land is good in the riches of water. We all realize how important water is to our daily life. I think we can endure several days without eating, but we can hardly pass one day without a drink of water. We need water more than almost anything else. Day by day we need water. If you just give me some water to drink, I can stop eating for three days. But I can hardly stop drinking for even one day.
Deuteronomy says that the land is good in water. Listen to the different terms that are used: “a land of waterbrooks” — that means a land full of streams of waters — and a land “of springs and of fountains” (8:7). Do you understand the difference between fountains and springs? The translation of J. N. Darby says that it is a land “of springs, and of deep waters.” Let me illustrate: Suppose we have a well. With a well, there is always a spring. Underneath, at the bottom of the well, is a spring of water which feeds the well. The water issues from that spring and fills the well, and the well becomes the “fountain,” or the “deep waters.” Then from this deep water, there flows out a stream. You have the spring, then the deep water which is the fountain, and then the stream.
There are the spring, the deep waters, and the streams. Brothers and sisters, what is the meaning of these waters? We can immediately turn to the Lord’s word for the answer. The Lord said that the water He gives will be in us a well of water, a fountain, springing up into eternal life (John 4:14). These waters are types of the various kinds of supply of Christ’s life. The life of Christ as the supply to us is just like the different kinds of waters.
The Lord told us that out of the innermost part of those who believe into Him will flow rivers of living water (7:38). What is this? This is the supply of the life of Christ as living water. If you reflect upon your experience and consider it carefully, you will realize that in one aspect Christ is so spacious and exhaustless and in another aspect Christ is transcendent and in the heavens. Then if you view it accurately, you will realize that the supply of the life of Christ is just as living water within you. Many times you are thirsty — not thirsty in your physical body but thirsty in your spirit. When you come athirst to the Lord and contact Him, you have a certain sense within you. You feel refreshed; you feel watered. When you are thirsty, it means that your spirit, your inner man is dry. But when you contact the Lord Jesus, it is not long before you feel watered, and your thirst is quenched. You are refreshed more by this drink than by any physical beverage. Then if you contact the Lord more and more and even moment by moment, you will feel more than watered; there will be a stream flowing forth from within you.
You may ask what I mean when I speak of a stream flowing forth from within you. Do you not have such experiences? When you are dry and thirsty in the inner man, you come to the Lord; you contact Him, and you are refreshed. Then the more you contact Him, you are not only watered, but you are filled; you are full of water. I believe that the moment you meet a brother, you will say Hallelujah! What is this? It is a stream flowing forth from within you. Then in the evening when you come to the meeting, you will come singing; you will come refreshed. You will immediately offer praise or a prayer, which will be just like a living stream flowing forth from within you. All the brothers and sisters will be watered by your prayer. You can tell them, “Brothers, how good it is. But this is only a stream. Do you know that there is a spring within me, and not only a spring but a fountain of deep water? I am full of water, so something is flowing forth.”
Now you can understand. We have a spring, a fountain, and a stream. The spring is the source, the fountain is the storage, and the stream is the flowing forth. We have the source, the storage, and the flowing forth; the spring, the fountain, and the stream.
I do believe that you have some experience of this, but I am sorry that you have little spiritual understanding of these things. You cannot utter it; you cannot give forth a fitting praise for this living spring, this deep fountain, and this flowing stream. If you understood this, I believe your praise to the Lord in the meeting would be much improved. You would say, “Lord, how I praise You, there is a spring within me. And from this spring there is a fountain of deep water. Lord, how I thank You. I not only have a spring and a fountain, but from this fountain flows a stream, and not only one stream but many streams are flowing forth. Lord, how it waters me! I am so refreshed. The living streams are always flowing forth from within me, and I am here to water others.”
In this land there is not only one stream but many streams; there is not just one spring and one fountain but many springs and many fountains. What does this mean? Sometimes when you are beset with troubles and trials, you contact the Lord and receive something from Him. You experience the Lord as a spring, as a fountain, and as a stream in your trial. What kind of spring, what kind of fountain, and what kind of stream is this? Can you give them a name? I believe you can give them many names. Sometimes you experience Him as a spring of joy, sometimes as a spring of peace, and sometimes as a spring of comfort. Sometimes you experience Him as a fountain of love, a fountain of grace, and a fountain of light. At other times Christ is a stream of patience, a stream of humility, and a stream of forbearance to you. You see, there are many springs, many fountains, and many streams. There are many kinds of heavenly supplies.
Since 1950 I have visited Manila almost every year, staying for a few months. The brothers there have always lodged me with a family, all the members of which are older persons, so they feel more free to speak with me, of course, than young people. One day in 1953, after my ministry, we all came home from the meeting hall. One of the older sisters said to me, “Brother, would you please tell me how you could possibly have so much to speak? To tell you the truth, when you first came in 1950, I was amazed by the messages. I thought then that your ministry the next time would be poorer. But I noticed that the second time you came, your ministry was richer; you had even more to give. Then I thought, ‘The third time he comes, he will be exhausted; he will have nothing to say.’ But to my surprise, the third time you came, your ministry was even richer than the first two times. Now this is your fourth visit here, and after hearing your message this evening, I cannot say how rich it is. Would you please tell me how you get all these things to speak?”
Do you know what I answered her? I told her, “It is quite simple. There is a stream in me that is connected with the spring in the heavens. You can never exhaust this spring. The more the living water flows out, the more the fresh supply flows in. The more I speak, the more I have to speak. If I stop speaking, it stops coming. This stream is flowing all the time.”
Once a brother came to me and asked, “Brother, how can you keep so many things in your mind? I notice that whenever you minister, you don’t have any outline before you. How can you remember it all?” I said, “Brother, I don’t have a great mentality. I cannot remember so many things. But I tell you, there is a stream within me. When I begin to speak, it flows forth.” Then he asked, “How much do you have within you?” “Brother,” I replied, “I don’t know; I cannot tell. For more than thirty years I have never been exhausted. It is rather hard for me to repeat a message.” There is a stream, a stream of ministry.
This is but one of many streams. There is a stream of wisdom, a stream of understanding, a stream of light, a stream of love, a stream of comfort, a stream of peace, a stream of joy, a stream of prayer, a stream of praise. How many streams are there within you? I do not know how many streams there are within me, and I do not know how much there is in each stream. If we only keep in touch with the living Christ, it is really marvelous. We can love others just as a living stream flowing forth. Our patience is flowing as a stream all the time, and we water others.
What a wonderful Christ we have. What a wonderful source we have. From one aspect you realize that He is spacious. From another aspect you realize that He is transcendent. From this aspect He is rich in water.
Deuteronomy says that these waters are flowing forth from the valleys and the mountains. What is the meaning of this? Obviously, without valleys and mountains no water will be flowing. If all the land is a plain, there will be no flow of water. What are the valleys and the mountains?
In 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 Paul mentions many contrasting things, many mountains and valleys:
Through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true; as unknown and yet well known; as dying and yet behold we live; as being disciplined and yet not being put to death; as made sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
“Glory” is a mountain; “dishonor” is a valley. The “evil report” is a valley; the “good report” is a mountain. “As made sorrowful” is a valley; “yet always rejoicing” is a mountain. “As poor” is another valley; “yet enriching many” is not only a mountain but a great mountain. Some thought that Paul was a deceiver. But he was as a deceiver and yet true; with the valley there was a mountain. In these verses there are at least nine pairs, nine valleys and nine mountains. These are the places from which the water may flow.
If you are someone without any mountains and valleys, if your life is just a plain, I am sure there will be no water flowing within you. The more you suffer, the more you will have flowing forth. The more you have been abased and the more evil reports are made about you, the more the water will flow.
Many times in the past years evil reports have been issued concerning me. Many times people have come to me and said, “Brother, there is one matter of which I am reluctant to speak.” Whenever people speak in this way, it is an evil report. When I hear this, I praise the Lord. I say, “Lord, I praise You, here is another valley; here is a valley for something more to flow forth from within.” I have received several good nicknames. Recently, I was derisively called “the strongest exponent” of a certain thing. I was given this “honorable title.” There have been all sorts of evil reports. But praise the Lord, whenever there is a valley, there must be a mountain. This is certain. I am not afraid of an evil report. I know that after the evil report there will be a good report. The water of life flows forth in valleys and mountains. The life of Christ is unspeakably wonderful.
Whenever God ordains sorrow for you, be assured that rejoicing will follow. “As made sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” “As poor yet enriching many.” “As having nothing and yet possessing all things.” All these are the valleys and the mountains. “I know also,” says the apostle Paul, “how to be abased, and I know how to abound” (Phil. 4:12). He learned the secret (v. 11). He knew how to be filled and how to be hungry (v. 12). What is the secret? The secret is that Christ Himself is flowing within. I have learned; I have been instructed; I have been initiated. I know the living Christ who is within me.
All the valleys are the experiences of the cross, the experiences of the death of Christ, and all the mountains are the experiences of the Lord’s resurrection. A valley is the cross; a mountain is the resurrection. We must be one who always has some trouble, some valley, but also one who is always on the mountains, always in the experience of resurrection. Whenever there is a valley, there is a mountain. Whenever you experience the death of the cross, you will experience the resurrection. The living waters flow forth from all these experiences.
Let us look more closely at the passage in Deuteronomy 8:7. It says there that the water is “flowing forth in valleys and in mountains.” It does not say in the mountains and in the valleys but in the valleys and in the mountains. There are first the valleys and then the mountains. Why? It is because the first place that you contact the flowing water is in the valleys. Then if you trace that stream up to its origin, you find that it springs from the mountains. The stream is in the valley, but the spring is in the mountains. If you would have something flowing out from within you to water others, you must be in the valleys.
I can never forget a story I heard when I was young. It has helped me greatly. The wife of one of the Lord’s servants died when she was very young, leaving eight children behind. He too was quite young, and this ordeal was a fiery trial to him. He suffered, and he learned something through it. One day some years later, a brother lost his wife, and there were also some children left behind. This brother could not be comforted by anyone; he was exceedingly depressed by the death of his wife. Then the servant of the Lord came to see him. Immediately upon his arrival, the depressed brother said to him, “Brother, I am comforted, I am refreshed. You lost your wife, and there were eight children left. I too lost my wife, but only four children were left. There is something coming out of you that refreshes and comforts me.”
If you can experience Christ in times of trouble and trial, how much you will have flowing out to others. How blessedly you will water others. It is not in peaceful times or in happy days that you can do this. It is in the days of sorrow, the days of sickness, the days of trouble. It is by your experience of Christ in these times that you may have the living flow to water others. Each situation of death may bring forth a greater outflow of refreshing water — not only the mountains but also the valleys; not only the valleys but also the mountains. We need many experiences of the Lord’s death and many experiences of the Lord’s resurrection; then we will be full of the springs, the fountains, and the streams.
These are indeed sweet verses. It is a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs, and of deep waters, flowing forth in the valleys and the mountains. And it is through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet we live, as made sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor and yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. Try to experience Christ and apply Christ when you are in all kinds of suffering; then you will have something that not only refreshes yourself but also flows forth to water others. This is but a part of the unsearchable riches of Christ; this is just one item of the riches of the good land. The land is good in the riches of water: in waterbrooks, in springs, and in deep waters, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains.
From where does all this water come? It flows forth in the valleys and in the mountains. But from where do the valleys and mountains get the water? Deuteronomy 11:11 says of this land that “by virtue of heaven’s rain, it drinks in water.” The mountains and the valleys are not the source. Heaven is the source. All the living waters, all the streams, come from heaven. The source is in heaven. Why does it come from heaven? We are told in this same passage that this land is a land after which the Lord is seeking: “A land which Jehovah your God cares for [Heb. seeks after]” (v. 12). God is seeking after this piece of good land. “The eyes of Jehovah your God are upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.” You can realize, when you are contacting Christ, when you are enjoying and experiencing Christ so that His life is flowing forth from within you, what a deep sense of the presence of God you will have. The presence of God will be so real to you. You will realize that you are one after whom God is seeking and one for whom God is caring. You will experience His eyes upon you from the beginning of the year to the end of the year simply because you are in Christ, you are enjoying Christ, and you are experiencing Christ. Because you are practically joined with Christ, you will not only experience Christ as the living water, but you will enjoy the presence of God. The eyes of God will be upon you all the time. What God is seeking after is this piece of good land. You have to live within this good land and enjoy its riches; then you will obtain the presence of God with the eyes of God.
When you are not happy with me, you turn your eyes away from me. God does the same. But when you are enjoying Christ as such a land, the eyes of God will be upon you from the beginning to the end; you will enjoy God’s presence continually. The presence of God will be with you because you experience Christ as your living water, because you are in the good land.
The land is rich in waters. It is a land of waterbrooks, springs, and deep waters, flowing forth in the valleys and the mountains.
