Having just lived through a personal revival that impacted all of Judah, king Hezekiah found himself facing Sennacherib and the Assyrian army that was bent on taking Jerusalem (2 Chron 32). Isn’t that what happens to us right after we experience a personal revival? The enemy immediately comes, bent on stealing away what God has given us. When that happens we need to be just like Hezekiah and dig deep.
Hezekiah knew that water was going to be critical for Jerusalem but also was also critical for Sennacherib. So he covered up the wells outside the city and dug a tunnel through solid rock from the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls to the spring of Gihon; 1,777 feet long and 30 feet underground. He not only preserved the water supply for Jerusalem but he cut off the supply needed by the Assyrian army. Man can live a long time without food but only a few days without water, and that fact holds true for the Word of God.
Water in the Bible refers to both the written Word (Eph 5:26) and to Jesus, the Living Word (John 7:37). The question facing us during those times when the enemy shows up with plans to attack us is how deep are we willing to dig? How much hard rock and how many obstacles are we willing to tunnel through in order to fill our soul with both the written and living Word of God to quench our thirsty soul?
This is where many of the bride of Christ fail. They look at the challenge facing them and either they try to do the best they can in their own efforts or they just “hope” God will deliver them. What they need to do is take hold of their “pick” as did Hezekiah and begin digging a tunnel to the spring of Living Water. This is not the time to sit back within the walls of your “city” and say, “well, it’s in God’s hands.”
Yes, we are to trust in God and in His deliverance from the enemy. But that doesn’t mean that we’re to leave our pick in the tool shed. The answer is to do all that we know to do while “knowing” that all the while it’s in God’s hands. He will help us tunnel through the obstacles in our way so that we can be filled with His Word, His Living Water. And at the same time our enemy will come to the same conclusion that the Assyrians did.
Elisha sat within the city and when his servant cried out, “Master we’re doomed,” Elisha asked God to show him the real score (2 Kings 6:17). His eyes were opened and he saw that the enemy was surrounded by God’s army, and at the end of the day it only took one of God’s angels to kill 185,000 Assyrians (2 Kings 19). And so it will stand us in good stead when the enemy sets a siege against us to ask the Lord to open our eyes so that we can see the victory He has in store for us. And how do we accomplish that? By insuring that we have a continual supply of Living Water, delivered by the Holy Spirit through the tunnel we dig deeply into His Word.
Are you facing an attack by the enemy? Do you feel surrounded and your soul is thirsty? Rather than just throwing up a prayer of hope and leaving the battle in God’s hands, maybe you need to first ask a question… How’s Your Tunnel Coming Along?