2 Kings 2:19–22
"The people of the city said to Elisha, 'Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.'"

This account comes from 2 Kings chapter 2, verses 19 through 22.

Here we find Elisha, the prophet of God, approached by the people of Jericho because there is a problem with the water in their city. They say to him:

"Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."

Elisha tells them, "Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it." They bring it to him, and he goes out to the spring and throws the salt into the water, declaring the Word of the Lord: "I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive." Scripture tells us that the water remained pure according to the word the Lord had spoken through Elisha.

There is something so powerful in this story.

What is striking is how the people described Jericho. They said the town was "well situated." In other words, there was a lot that looked good about it. The location was good. From the outside, everything appeared to be in the right place.

The same can be true of our own lives. Sometimes, from the outside, everything can look well situated. We may have the things we need. We may have a nice home, a car, a job, money, accomplishments, or whatever else the world looks at and says should make a person satisfied.

But what about the water? What is happening on the inside?

The people of Jericho said, "The water is bad and the land is unproductive." Everything may have looked good outwardly, but something at the source was wrong. And apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, what we build on the outside can never fix what needs to be transformed on the inside.

Proverbs 20:5 describes the purposes of a person's heart as deep waters, and the connection is hard to miss. These waters in Jericho remind us of the condition of the human heart apart from Christ.

The bad water brought death and made the land unproductive. In the same way, sin within the heart produces spiritual death and keeps us from becoming fruitful in the things of God.

Some may have prayed, "God, I want to be productive in Your Kingdom. I want my life to bear fruit for You. I want to serve You and accomplish what You've called me to do, but something inside seems to keep holding me back."

There may be sin that needs to be surrendered. There may be desires that pull us toward the world. There may be something deep within the heart that needs the cleansing and transforming power of God.

But the good news is that God knows how to heal the waters.

Why did Elisha use salt to heal the water? Elisha put salt into the spring at the Lord's direction, and the salt itself held no power apart from the word that was spoken over it. Throughout Scripture, salt carries different meanings, but one that stands out here is its connection with purification. Salt was used to preserve, to season, and to cleanse. Jesus said that everyone will be salted with fire, and when we consider the purifying qualities of both fire and salt, we begin to see what the power of God does in a life. The Lord was showing that He is able to take something that produced death and make it clean, pure, and productive again.

Maybe our hearts were once far from Him. Maybe we were caught up in the world, following our own desires, going our own way, and living according to our own will. But when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, call upon His name, and surrender ourselves to Him, we can be salted with purity. We can be cleansed and washed of our sin.

The Holy Spirit begins working within us, purifying our hearts and changing our desires. What once pulled us away from God begins to lose its hold. We begin to desire His presence. We begin to seek His will. We begin to want our lives to produce something for His Kingdom.

And what is the evidence of that? Look again at what happened in Jericho. The water did not simply look better. It was made pure, and it remained pure to this day. It became productive. That is what happens when God truly touches a life. When the Lord touches you, you cannot help but turn to Him. You cannot help but begin to serve Him and become productive in the Kingdom. His work within us begins to produce something through us. We begin to worship Him, obey Him, love others, and bear fruit that brings glory to His name.

So what kind of waters are flowing on the inside?

Are they waters that have been salted with the goodness of God, now productive in doing the works and the things of faith?

Or is there still water within us that sits in darkness — water that is unproductive, causing death because of sin, selfishness, or our own will, keeping us from becoming everything God is calling us to be?

The answer is not simply to make the outside look better. We need God to touch the source.

May the Lord who healed the waters of Jericho touch the deepest places of our hearts. Just as these waters were salted, just as this fountain was salted, may we be salted by God today — filled with the Spirit of God and touched by His presence. May the Holy Spirit search us, cleanse us, fill us, and bring every part of our lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus today. Allow Him to cleanse what needs to be cleansed and change what needs to be changed. May the waters within us be washed and clean. May our hearts become fully surrendered to God. And may our lives become fruitful and productive in His Kingdom — bringing Him glory through our decisions, our actions, and our entire walk.

We give thanks today for the Word of the Lord. May His Word touch our hearts, may His Spirit transform us from the inside out, and above all, may God have His way in us. Be blessed today.