There is an old saying - You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Sometimes, like the stubborn horse, we are led to water but, even though we are dying of thirst, we refuse to drink. All of us, whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, smart or dumb, righteous or wicked, will be compelled to endure hardships and adversity. In the heat of the furnace of affliction, our souls cry out for relief. We are led to water, but so many of us refuse to drink. We allow our anger and our frustration to harden our hearts and stiffen our necks so that we turn towards pride instead of humility. Instead of using our challenging circumstances as an opportunity to examine our lives and revisit our priorities, we dig in our heels and clench our jaws tight and refuse to allow even a drop of the Living Waters of Christ's Atonement to pass through our lips and soothe our tortured souls. “And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.” God will not always shelter us from the heat of opposition but He will offer us the tender mercies of Living Waters to quench our thirst and fill us with His love and His power so that we may endure our trials and be saved in the end. I hope that when life compels us to our knees and leads us to water, that we will choose to drink and be comforted, healed and saved.
