by Charles H. Welch
#2. The confession of Asaph and of Peter.
“Fountains”, “wells” and “springs” are in constant reference in the Scriptures, where they are used as figures of life, fertility and blessing. This can well be understood when the geography of Palestine is considered. When the land of promise was described by Moses, it was not only called “a land flowing with milk and honey”, but “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills” (Deut. viii. 7). The particular word which is translated “springs” in Psalm lxxxvii. is the Hebrew word mayan, a word derived from ayin, “the eye”, from the supposed resemblance to the eye as “a fountain of tears”, a figure that is found in the Greek language also. These “fountains” may be as vast as those that cause the Deluge, when “the fountains of the great deep were broken up”, or as small as a fountain that waters a garden (Song of Sol. iv. 15), and Isaiah uses the word when he speaks of “the wells of salvation” (Isa. xii. 3). To any who lived in the East, therefore, the joyous exclamation at the close of Psalm lxxxvii. would need no explanation; it would come spontaneously to the mind.
The word mayan occurs but five times in the Psalms, and that with a certain evident connection of theme:
Mayan in the Psalms.
A | lxxiv. 15. Reference to dividing the waters and cleaving the fountains (13-15).
B | lxxxiv. 6. Valley of Weeping turned to a well in blessing.
C | lxxxvii. 7. All my springs are in Thee.
A | civ. 10. Waters rebuked, they fled. Not another deluge. Springs sent (6-10).
B | cxiv. 8. The sea fled. Water from the rock in blessing.
The figurative use of a spring is common to most languages. In our own tongue it has a number of allied usages. A rising, as of a river; a source of anything; the beginning, as of the day or year; springtime. The act of springing or leaping, and so, the origin of movement, as by a steel “spring”.
To the believer, the Lord Himself is the spring, source and never-failing supply of all his needs, whether temporal or spiritual, and it is to this aspect of the subject that we direct our attention.
To any acquainted with the Scriptures, examples of this blessed fact come readily to the mind. We think of Asaph (Psa. lxxiii.) who had been envious at the apparent prosperity of the wicked and whose faith had been sorely tried, so much so that he had said, “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency”. The turning point in Asaph’s spiritual experience was the vision he obtained in the sanctuary:
“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” Asaph, now, could see how it was that he could say, “my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped”—“almost”, “well nigh”, but not quite, for he now confesses, “Thou hast holden my by my right hand”. The wicked still prospered, they still appeared to have “more than heart could wish”, but Asaph’s envy had given place to confident trust, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever”. Providential mercies were guaranteed—“Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel”—and a blessed hope awaited fulfillment—“And afterward receive me to glory”. Asaph could surely say, “All my springs are in Thee”.
A New Testament example of this same recognition is provided by Peter. The Lord had revealed Himself as “the True Bread” which had been given by the Father, in contrast with the Manna, which, though given by God and eaten by the fathers in the wilderness, yet did not give those who partook of it everlasting life. Moses gave not that “True Bread”, “for the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world”. “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”
The Lord emphasized that the “True Bread” was not to be considered apart from sacrifice. It involved His very flesh and blood, which, said He, “I will give for the life of the world”. Many of those who heard the Lord on this occasion declared His message to be “a hard saying”, and “many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him”. It was at this point that the test was made; the Lord turned to the twelve and said to them, “Will ye also go away?” Then Peter, with the words of the Psalm, “All my springs are in Thee”, in heart, if not in mind, made the great confession, “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou are that Christ, the Son of the living God” (John vi. 68, 69).
“Whom have I in heaven BUT THEE?”
“TO WHOM shall we go?”
“All my springs are in THEE.”
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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 25).
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