Many who have watched the rise and fall Of a tidal river have been impressed with the remarkable illustration it gives of man's life.
At the beginning of the tide only a slight ripple is seen to break on the bank; then gradually the water rises until, gaining in swiftness, it climbs the steep slopes as though there could be no limit set to that advancing flood.
The high-water mark is reached, and immediately the retreat begins. The waters decrease, with gradually diminishing force, until at last the original level is reached—the tide is out.
If you have not already passed it, you soon will reach the high-water mark of your life. The height of your pleasures, the summit of your ambition, will have come and gone.
To your disappointment, you will find that no power on earth can sustain the freshness and intensity of interest that you once found in life.
Then as the world recedes you will prove that it has not satisfied you; it has not filled the emptiness in your heart, for even the world's best is not enough. Across its streams of pleasure the Son of God has written, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." John 4:1313Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: (John 4:13).
But why pass through that bitter experience? Why not face the matter now? Do not let your life be a wasted, disappointed one. Turn from the unsatisfying pleasures of this world to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is longing to save your soul and satisfy your heart.
God's world-wide invitation is still being given, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17). For those who respond to it there is a life which has no ebb tide, a joy that is as pure as it is unending.
The moment is very near when every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will reach the high-water mark of his eternal stream of bliss—to be forever with the Lord, forever conformed to His image. There will be no subsiding of that joy, no diminishing of the blessing that flows from Him. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14).
Until the realization of that sure and certain hope, the Christian's path is "as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Even though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day, so that instead of joyless, declining years full of disappointment and regret, the believer can increasingly "rejoice in hope of the glory of God."