I’ve never had to drink muddy water but I imagine that it is not pleasant.  Nor have I been forced by life circumstances to drink from a polluted well.  Can you imagine being thirsty and you go to get a drink at a well and it has trash in it?

And yet, I have become that well.  I have muddied my waters.

I was reading in Proverbs yesterday this verse:

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked” (Prov 25:26).

How many times to try to keep the peace or to avoid unpleasant confrontations have I allowed what is wrong and what is wicked to prevail?  Friends, it has been many times.  And it has served no one.  Not others, not myself.

Standing firm for what is right and embracing the ensuing conflict takes fortitude.  It takes managing our heart well.  And our lives.

Last night I thought of this Scripture only in my own life and context and repented.  But now I realize it’s not just for my life, but the life of our nation and the places we have influence.  It’s much easier to let the wicked have their way.  It’s much harder to continue in love and truth.  But hardest yet is to have someone thirst and find that I am a polluted well.