blessing! What reservoir is there that does not need
replenishing? Some Christians say that at times after some piece of
service has been finished, they feel as if they were empty, as if their
souls had been quite drained, and now they are dry and thirsty. It need
not be so. It is not so with the Spirit-filled worker whose faith is in
lively exercise, for he is "being filled" all the time.

In driving between Melbourne and my home I often stop at a wayside trough
to give the horse a drink. I notice that the trough is quite full of water
and that there is a box in one end of it. As the horse drinks the water is
lowering, and presently I hear a sound as of a running tap. Yes, the sound
is coming from the box. That box is covering a piece of mechanism that
needs explaining. Within it there is a tap connected by pipes with the Yan
Yean Reservoir up in the Plenty Ranges. Attached by a lever to the tap is
a metal ball, which rests on the surface of the water. As the horse drinks,
the water on which the ball is floating is lowered, and thus the ball is
lowered; the lowering of the ball opens the tap and the Yan Yean begins
to pour in; so that, although the water is being withdrawn by the thirsty
animal, a fresh supply is being poured in, the trough is "being filled,"
so that it is always "full." Thus may it be with the soul of the believer.
No matter what the outflow into the surrounding emptiness may be, or the
withdrawals by thirsty, needy souls, there is the continual inflow, so
that there may be the constant "Fullness." Indeed the outflow depends
directly on the inflow; one can only give as he gets. It is ours to see to
the connection between us and the infinite Reservoir away up among the
hills of God being kept open, to see that the tap is kept in proper
working order by faith and prayer and meditation, and then, one might
almost say, automatically, the heart will be kept full, "filled with all
the Fullness of God," no matter what the spiritual drain upon us may be;
for now it is not a question of our capacity to contain, but a question of
God's infinite supply for all our needs. This too is the explanation of
the "overflow," the flowing "Rivers" of John vii. 38. It is the overflow,
and only the overflow, that blesses. There is not a drop for thirsty souls
till some one overflows. It is the overflow in the Sabbath School class,
and in the pulpit, and, for that matter, in every other sphere of
Christian service, that bring