Two Fountains

Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
(Rock of Ages: Augustus Montague Toplady)

Recently, while reading Billy Graham’s book ‘Nearing Home’, I came across a section where he mentions Bible verses about ‘fountains’ For example,
​

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. 
(Proverbs 14:27)


For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. (Psalm 36:9)

As I pondered on this, there came to mind another fountain, spoken about in William Cowper’s hymn;
​

There is a fountain filled with blood
 Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
 Lose all their guilty stains

It brought back to my memory something that I experienced many years ago.

​I had acted a little unwisely in a situation; it was nothing major, and in fact, most people wouldn’t even have thought it could be called sin. But deep inside me I knew I had not reflected Christ in the situation. Very quickly, I felt the forgiveness of God but, for months, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt. If I could have turned the clock back to that moment, I would have done so, but life doesn’t work that way.

Then one day, very sweetly, I felt Christ come and wash away the guilt. He had forgiven the sin and now I ‘lost all (my) guilty stains’. It was overwhelming. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off me. I was free, not just free from the sin, but free from the guilt!

​What a blessed fountain that is; the fountain that cleanses us, not just from sin, but from guilt, remorse and shame.  

Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power’ 
(Augustus Montague Toplady)

And after such a cleansing comes the drinking from another fountain that He has prepared for us;

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts (Revelation 21:6-7)

A fountain that cleanses from sin and guilt, and a fountain that satisfies our thirst. Let’s not waste any time in running to both these fountains this week. 

​Pauline Anderson