Wells Without Water

Can society survive a drought of "living water" (John 7:38)?

Some news reports grab your attention and will not let go—particularly when they involve some desperate situation that affects masses of people. We see many such epochal forces being unleashed at the moment, with massive flooding across the South in the United States resulting in widespread property damage and loss of life at the same time California—America's most populous state, just a few hundred miles away—parches in prolonged drought.

Reservoirs are desperately low, and the usual sources that replenish the water supply—such as the mountain snowpack and spring rains—failed to materialize this year, resulting in the worst drought in California's history. Severe mandatory water use restrictions have been imposed. Agriculture, so important to California and the rest of the nation, is being severely curtailed because of lack of water for irrigation. Water for landscaping, lawns and recreation is being reduced or eliminated in an effort to conserve precious water for basic needs. Aerial photos of California's reservoirs, rivers and streams show the devastating extent of the dry conditions. Truly it is a situation where California's residents have wells without water.

In a quiet moment, perhaps those affected by these catastrophic conditions will ask, "Why? What could these extremes possibly mean?"

While these physical conditions are being endured, another kind of drought is also causing great suffering and intractable problems. The U.S. and most of the Western nations are experiencing a spiritual drought. Spiritual principles and codes of conduct that guided society for millennia are being abandoned. Aberrant behavior and perversion are being promoted and accepted as "normal" by large segments of the population.

While increasingly perverse activities have become especially prominent in recent years, none of this is new. These same conditions existed in the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. You can read the account beginning in Genesis 18. God finally had enough and destroyed those cities.

Do such activities actually affect our living conditions? The Bible plainly says that they do. Deuteronomy 28 contains the promise of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience of God's way of life. It even includes the prospect of drought. Consider: "And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed" (Deuteronomy 28:23–24).

Many other verses also show how God uses the weather to accomplish His will.

The Apostle Peter commented on the condition of spiritual drought brought on by evil actions. He wrote: "These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error" (2 Peter 2:17–18).

We should have compassion for those who will suffer from the extreme dry conditions in the Western states. Yet, we should feel greater anguish for those who will suffer and perish because of sinful lifestyles. God is very merciful to forgive those who will sincerely repent and change their ways. Again, Peter made it plain, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

This message of warning and call to repentance is the purpose of the Work that we do at Tomorrow's World. For those who heed this message, "…their souls shall be like a well-watered garden"  (Jeremiah 31:12).