Muddy Waters

Proverbs 25:26

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain, is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.”  Can you imagine drinking from a murky spring or a polluted fountain?  Most of us can’t.  But too many are drinking from the well of the wicked.  The danger is that we get used to the taste.

When I was a boy I drank from a well filled with sulphur water.  I got used to the taste.  It even had a bad smell and I got used to that too.  Sadly, too many folks have gotten used to the taste and smell of sin and it no longer bothers them.  It happens subtly. 

It begins with a weakness…we become spiritually weak.  We casually and carelessly neglect the Bible, prayer, the church, advice of Christian friends, and convictions of the Holy Spirit.  Others may see our drift, but most of us are oblivious to the unhealthy changes taking place in our life.  We’ve become unable to discern the slippery slope of compromise on which we’re sliding.  The choices we are making are not taking us closer to God but further away.  We’re headed toward the far country where we’ll keep company with a host of other prodigals who are wasting away.  The far country is a place that is far from God, and as we sip from the murky and polluted we slowly drift further away from everything that matters.

But then suddenly, the weakness becomes worldliness…we stop believing the Bible, stop praying, quit church, make new friends who couldn’t care less about Christ, and grieve the Holy Spirit.  Worldliness means what it says, we become worldly – thinking and acting like those who don’t know Jesus.  We’ve all witnessed it in the life of someone else.  It’s often compared to a train wreck and we can do nothing but watch.  We can plead, beg, love, and pray.  But those who have gotten used to the distance from God are often undisturbed by the sin that surrounds them. They have drank the murky waters and have themselves become a source of everything distasteful.  They’ve become worldly.  It is sad, because at one time, they were godly.

Then finally, as we drink from this polluted well filled with murky waters, our worldliness becomes wickedness…wicked thoughts and words and lifestyle. At this point all that matters is what “I want” and what “I need.”  Family and friends are put on the shelf.  Convictions and beliefs are nothing but a memory – the future is bright, or so it seems. When we drink from polluted wells – we can’t see clearly.  Our vision is blurred.  Our heart becomes hardened.  Our feelings are numbed.  Again, we have witnessed the progression of sin in others.  As I have said of those who choose the broad path that leads to destruction, they have become a walking, talking proverb. 

Only God can clean the well. Only God can make pure the spring.  Friend, if you’ve been drinking from a murky spring or a polluted well, or if you’ve been become such, turn back to God.  Believe God.  Cry out to God.  His grace is sufficient.