The Thirst for Good News Text: Proverbs 25:25
Introduction: A World Parched and Waiting
We live in an age drowning in information and yet desperately thirsty for truth. The soul of modern man is a weary soul. It is weary from the relentless barrage of pixels, the 24-hour news cycle of outrage and despair, and the constant hum of anxiety that our culture manufactures as its chief export. We are travelers in a digital desert, and the mirages are endless. Every notification, every headline, every trending topic promises a sip of something significant, but it all turns out to be hot sand.
The soul is weary because it is constantly being lied to. It is told that it is autonomous, that it is the captain of its own fate, and yet it feels adrift and powerless. It is told that satisfaction is just one more purchase, one more experience, one more political victory away, and yet it remains empty. It is a weary soul because it is a thirsty soul, and it is looking for water in all the wrong places.
Into this parched and exhausted landscape, the book of Proverbs speaks with a refreshing, earthy realism. The wisdom of God is not a complex philosophical system designed for the academic elite. It is practical, it is potent, and it is for the man on the street. It is street-level theology. And here, in this simple, elegant simile, the Holy Spirit gives us a picture that every one of us can understand. It is a picture of profound relief, of deep satisfaction, and of life-giving hope.
This proverb is about the power of words. But it is not just about any words. It is about a particular kind of word, a "good report." And it is not just for anyone. It is for the "weary soul." This verse, like all of Scripture, is a signpost. It points us to a natural reality to teach us about a supernatural one. It shows us our physical thirst to reveal our spiritual thirst. And it shows us the refreshment of good news on earth to prepare us for the best news from the farthest country of all, which is Heaven.
The Text
Like cold water to a weary soul,
So is a good report from a distant land.
(Proverbs 25:25 LSB)
The Condition: A Weary Soul
First, we must consider the recipient of this good report. The proverb says it is for a "weary soul." The Hebrew here is nephesh ayephah. Nephesh is the whole person, the seat of appetite, emotion, and life. Ayephah means faint, thirsty, exhausted. This is not just someone who is a little tired after a long day. This is a soul that is about to give out. It is the traveler in the wilderness whose canteen has been empty for miles, whose throat is cracked, and whose vision is starting to blur. It is the soldier on a long campaign, far from home, depleted and discouraged. It is the farmer staring at a cloudless sky during a drought, his strength failing along with his crops.
This weariness is a fundamental part of the human condition after the fall. We were made to find our rest in God, but in our rebellion, we chose instead a life of hard labor, chasing after the wind. And so we are weary. We are weary from our sin, from the sheer effort it takes to keep up our pretenses and justify ourselves. We are weary from the consequences of our sin, from broken relationships, from guilt, and from the futility that haunts our every endeavor apart from God.
And we are weary from the lies of the enemy. The constant whisper of accusation, the endless stream of bad reports about ourselves, about our neighbors, and about our God. This is the opposite of a good report. A bad report, a slander, a piece of gossip, is like drinking salt water when you are thirsty. It only makes the dehydration, the weariness of soul, more acute. Our culture traffics in this kind of poison. It is a firehose of bad reports, designed to make us anxious, fearful, and weary. And it is working.
The Refreshment: Cold Water
The comparison is to "cold water." In the ancient Near East, a land of arid deserts and scorching sun, this image was far more potent than it is for us, with our refrigerators and insulated water bottles. Cold water was a luxury. It was life. It was the difference between perishing and pressing on. When a weary traveler finally reached a cool spring, the relief was not just pleasant; it was total. It was a kind of resurrection. It revived the body, cleared the mind, and restored the spirit.
This is what a good report does to a weary soul. Notice the immediacy of it. The relief is not delayed. The moment the water hits the parched throat, the refreshment begins. In the same way, a good report, a word of truth and grace, can instantly lift a downcast spirit. It cuts through the fog of anxiety and despair. It is a tangible mercy.
This is why we are commanded in Scripture to be people who bring this kind of refreshment to one another. "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29). Our words are meant to be vessels of grace. They are meant to be cups of cold water for the weary souls around us. When we encourage a brother, when we speak a word of thanks to our wife, when we comfort a suffering friend, we are participating in this proverbial wisdom. We are administering the medicine of good news.
Conversely, when we engage in gossip, slander, or complaining, we are poisoning the well. We are taking the cup of water that God has given us to refresh others and filling it with mud and filth. A Christian community should be an oasis in the desert of this weary world, a place where good reports are the native language. It should be a place where people come, thirsty and exhausted, and find cold, clear water.
The Content: A Good Report from a Distant Land
The proverb specifies the nature of this refreshing word. It is a "good report from a distant land." In the ancient world, news traveled slowly and unreliably. A son or a husband might be away at war or on a trading journey for months or even years. The family at home would be in a state of prolonged weariness, a constant, low-grade anxiety. What has become of him? Is he alive? Is he well? Has he been successful?
In that context, the arrival of a messenger with a "good report" was an explosive event. "He is alive! The battle was won! The journey was successful! He is coming home!" This news was not just information; it was deliverance. It was the cold water that revived the weary soul of the entire family, the entire village.
The distance is a key part of the analogy. The news is precious because it is rare and because it comes from a place beyond our sight and control. We are weary because we are uncertain about those things that are far off. We worry about the future. We worry about things happening in places we cannot see. A good report bridges that distance and brings peace.
Now, we must ask the question that all Scripture requires us to ask: what is the ultimate fulfillment of this proverb? What is the best report from the most distant land? The most distant land is not Babylon or Egypt. The most distant land is the throne room of God in Heaven. It is a country from which we are exiled by our sin. We are weary souls, living in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water, anxious about our state and our future. We are waiting for news from the king's court.
The Gospel as the Ultimate Good Report
And the good news has come. The word for "good news" in the New Testament is, of course, euangelion. The Gospel. The Gospel is the good report from a distant land par excellence. It is the message brought by a messenger, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who bridged the infinite distance between Heaven and earth, between a holy God and sinful man.
What is this report? The report is that the war has been won. Our champion, Jesus, has met our great enemy on the field of battle, at the cross, and has decisively triumphed over him. He has defeated sin, death, and the devil. The report is that the debt has been paid. Our staggering, unpayable debt of sin has been nailed to His cross and cancelled. The report is that the King's Son has secured a way for us to come home. He has risen from the dead and ascended to the Father's right hand, and He is preparing a place for us.
This is the news that revives the soul that is weary of its sin. When a man is crushed under the weight of his guilt, exhausted by his failed attempts to be righteous, and you bring him this report, it is like cold water to his soul. "You can stop trying to save yourself. The work is finished. The victory is won. Believe the report. Trust the messenger. Drink."
This is why the preaching of the gospel is the central task of the church. We are a people in possession of the best news in the world, and we are surrounded by weary, thirsty souls. Our task is to be the messengers who carry this good report from a distant land to every creature. Every sermon, every evangelistic conversation, every act of mercy done in Christ's name is a cup of cold water offered to the faint.
And this is not a one-time drink. We who have believed the report still get weary. We travel through the wilderness of this world, and the heat of the day is intense. We face trials and temptations. We grow faint. And so we must continually come back to the well. We must continually hear the good report of the gospel preached to us and to one another. The weekly gathering of the saints is not a religious duty to be checked off a list. It is a weary caravan stopping at an oasis. It is a community of thirsty souls reminding one another of the good report from our true home, and drinking deeply of the cold water of God's grace in Christ.
So then, take this proverb and apply it in two directions. First, be a good messenger. Look for the weary souls around you, in your home, in your church, in your neighborhood, and bring them a good report. Bring them a word of encouragement. Bring them a word of thanks. And above all, bring them the good report of Jesus Christ. And second, when your own soul is weary, when you are parched and faint, do not drink from the polluted streams of this world. Do not look for refreshment in entertainment or distraction or self-pity. Go to the Word. Remind yourself of the good report from that distant land. The King is on His throne, His Son has won the victory, and He is calling you home. That is a drink of cold water that will never run dry.