When The Well Runs Dry

When The Well Runs Dry

Revelation 2:1-6

More than twenty years ago a young man entered college. It wasn't just any

college - it was one of the most sterling examples of Christian education in

the nation, Wheaton College in Chicago, Illinois. The young man was deeply

in love with God and he wanted his life to matter for the Kingdom of God.

He became well versed in God's Word, excited about sharing all that he was

learning, and overwhelmed by what God was doing in his life and the lives of

others. The young man was so gripped by God that he decided to go to

seminary and further his Christian education preparing for the ministry.

The young man enrolled in seminary in Enid, Oklahoma and began his

theological studies. He and another young seminary student named Larry

Jones, who now heads up the Feed the Children ministry here in Oklahoma

City, were convinced that all people needed to hear the Word of God. They

truly believed that people needed Jesus more than anything in life.

Phillips Theological School was known as a more liberal seminary and the two

men became known as the "God Squad" because of their evangelical outlook on

life. They would teach Bible studies to undergraduate students, hold

weekend revivals in little towns around Enid, and pray continuously for an

outpouring of God's power and salvation upon the lives of people.

The young man finished his first three years of seminary and was preparing

for his final year before entering the ministry full-time. When his last

year of seminary began to unfold the young man encountered some difficulties

in his life that slowly took their toll upon his faith. The well of the

man's soul began to dry up until finally he lost his faith. He walked away

from his aspirations of being in ministry all together.

With the loss of his faith he began to try and do other things that

possibly could bring meaning and purpose to his life. He created a social

service agency that produced great results in meeting the needs of those who

were hurting in his community, but after years of this kind of work he still

felt empty. The well was dry. Eventually the man found himself sitting in

his living room floor all alone, wondering why he was even alive?

It was at that point that the man cried out to the God that he had tried to

not believe in, but whom he knew he desperately needed. The man said, "God,

I've tried not to believe in You, but if You are there I desperately need

You." Suddenly, the living room was flooded by the presence of Jesus in a

way that the man had never experienced before. He began to weep tears of

joy and his soul was flooded by the living waters of the Savior. The once

dried up well of the man's soul was now overflowing with the presence of the

Savior.

The man that I have been telling you about is not some fictional character

concocted in the mind of a preacher. Over the past two months I have come

to know John Mayfield as a wonderful man of faith, a man who has experienced

the dryness of the desert, but who is now experiencing the presence of our

Savior in a very real and powerful way.

I do not think that John's story is that much different than ours. Oh,

maybe you haven't walked away from your faith, maybe you haven't lost your

faith, but each of us has experienced those desert times when our soul is

dry and our eyes are wet with the tears of sorrow and emptiness.

What do you do when you find yourself dragging yourself through the desert?

Is there any hope of having your soul restored? Is there any hope of

experiencing living waters nurturing you and invigorating every fiber of

your being? Maybe you've come here today and you are in a desert right now.

You don't even know why you are here. You are uncertain if God even exists,

and even if He does, then why does He seem so distant, so removed?

I've got Good News for you today if you find that your well has run dry.

There is hope for you as I know from experience that God can bring forth

streams in the desert that will cause new life to begin to form in our

hearts and soul.

Before we try and understand how we can experience living waters flowing

into our dry and dusty souls, I want us to understand some of the reasons

why our well runs dry. There are many reasons that precipitate the dryness

that we sometimes experience, and I can't give you an exhaustive list, but