The Word Of The Pool

What is pouring out of you?

Several days ago I read a devotional passage by Amy Carmichael, the image and lesson of which has stuck with me. She wrote about a time when she felt like she was running short of love. She had read a letter that was hard for her to answer lovingly, so she went away into the forest to pray about it and as she contemplated being short on love, she watched a pool beneath a rocky ledge as it filled with water from the rocks above. There was always an inflow of water through the deep, rocky channel above it, so the pool was always overflowing. 

She said, “Never for one minute did the water cease to flow in, and so never for one moment did it cease to flow out; and I knew, of course, that the water that flowed out was the same water that flowed in. The pool in the hollowed-out rock had no water of it’s own, and yet all the year round there was an overflow. God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of love. If love flows in, love will flow out. Let love flow in—that was the word of the pool. There is never any need for us to run short of love.”

The was a time in my walk with the Lord when the Spirit began pouring into me, but what came back out was muddy. There was too much of myself in it— my attitude, perspectives and presuppositions. Technically it was water, but it wasn’t fit to drink. And even though it was truth, there was no beauty in it to draw someone to the Lord. That irresistible nature of the Holy Spirit was not present, only the letter of His word that was presented in my own shadow. 

I had yet to learn the word of the pool— “Let love flow in”— for there is never any need for us to run short of love. 

(1 Tim 1:4,5) Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God. The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

(Ps 45:10,11) Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house. So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.

(Ps 50:1,2) The LORD, the Mighty One, is God, and he has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.

(Song of Sol 4:7-9) You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride…You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.