Let There Be Water

Assuming my memory serves me well, the following event happened in 1996. I lived in a small house of five. Mom, my younger brother and sister, my older sister's son (yes, she left her son with Mom), and myself had shared the same roof for many years. Being the first son in the family compelled me to take care of the family. I was a teacher during that time. And if you ever lived in Indonesia, you would know how concerning the pay was for a teaching job. However, the faithful God really took care of us. My income could cover all our basic needs and even sent my brother to college.

Early in that year one dreadful drought came and dried up the area. For many months the sky had never poured its rain down, and the heat wave had not moved away. What made the matter worse was inevitably our well stopped producing water. This well was our only source of water. We could not afford  the public water company, which required us to pay a lot of money for the installation and the usage. Instead, we use an electric pump to draw water from this well. Of course, the pump would only work if the well had water. Our neighbors who had the money purchased more powerful pumps so that they could dig deeper to find water. Unfortunately, we could not afford that kind of pump either.

Water became more and more expensive. We had to buy water from the street seller every single day. That mainly was for drinking and cooking. Cleaning was just secondary. Imagine being in a super warm (and polluted) place and not taking a shower for a few days! Thank God, some church friends who happened to live nearby offered my family some water from their houses. My brother and I would just have to bring some containers over and carry them back home. Quite a workout!

The drought had been going on for months! There were days with rain, yet there was still no sign of water in our well. All surrounding neighbors had been using the more powerful pumps. I guessed that somehow contributed to why our well was still dry. Mom tried to start the pump every morning and always ended up in disappointment. So were the rest of the family...

One evening, while I was reading in my room, Mom came in with some news. She told me she met Nyo and he had a solution for our water problem. She was so excited and believed that Nyo's solution was an answered prayer from God.

Oh, let me introduce Nyo. He is my cousin, and quite a famous paranormal, too. I have heard many stories about how accurate his predictions are about the future. Many people from different backgrounds have come to him to find answers for their problems or just to learn about their future. I remember when Nyo once predicted how my other cousin would meet his future wife. He could exactly tell where and when they both would meet. Even Nyo could see what they both would wear on that day. Yes, it all happened as what Nyo had predicted.

No wonder Mom was very delighted when Nyo said he knew where to find water at our house. He even scribbled a diagram for Mom. It was a diagram of our house. Mom showed me where Nyo had marked the location of the water. Although weirdly, it was somewhere on the driveway.

I was stumped. My head tried to rationalize the question, "Does God really answer our water problem through Nyo?" Mom was trying to convince me that she did not go and tell Nyo about the water. "Is this really the solution from God, though?", I still could not believe it. However, Mom really believed it! Torn and confused, I could not any other words, except asking for a time to digest this new information. Mom agreed.

My heart was very troubled that night. I could not fall asleep after my conversation with Mom. On one hand, I was really tired of living without enough water. It had been months and God seemed to be silent. On the other hand, I was not sure if Nyo's solution is God's solution. I cried out to God desperately, not knowing what to do.
And suddenly, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came to mind. The three were forced to make a difficult decision at one time. They had to choose to either worship the king's gold statue, or decline and face the consequence of being thrown into a fiery furnace. What really struck me was their brave answer to the furious king:

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." (Daniel 3:17, 18 NLT)

From their answer, I realized how worshiping God had nothing to do with prayers being answered or not. It was just a matter of trusting Him in any situations. My problem was not as scary as being thrown into a fiery furnace. Even when water was scarce, we were still alive and healthy. I uttered a somewhat similar prayer, "God, I believe you are able to provide water to my family. With Your unlimited power, you can easily make the well work again. But even if the well is still dry, I will not follow Nyo's advice." I promised myself to work even harder so that we could afford the new pump. Then I fell asleep...

Early in the morning, I jumped out of the bed in shock because I heard Mom shouting. She came abruptly into my room. To my surprise, she did not look tense or distraught at all. As a matter of fact, she actually looked happy. "Water... water...", Mom in excitement was struggling to finish her sentence. After calming herself, she continued, "Water came out of our well! I just started the pump, and the water came out..." I could not believe what I just heard. Flabbergasted. When I was finally convinced that it was not a dream, in a sudden, I fell on my knees and broke down in tears. Bowing before God, I praised Him, "You are truly a living God!".

The well has never gone dry since that day.

On several occassions, Nyo has been trying to make predictions about my family. However, none of them has ever come true. He believed my sister would deliver a baby girl - it turned out to be a boy. He "saw" me in a terrible motorcycle accident - it has been 20 years ago and counting. Eventually, Nyo said that my future was dark! Yes, of course it was dark for him! Nyo can never see my future, because I am covered by Jesus - and no other power can ever break that! Amen!