Badwater Basin

The lowest, hottest place in the United States is Death Valley National Park in California. At the lowest place in the valley, there is a pool of water. Try to imagine this: As you descend into the valley, all you see around you is dusty dry mountains, cracked earth, and rocks. It’s a dead, barren desert. But there, down at the bottom, you see sunlight reflecting off a pool. Water! You almost want to run to it!

Except, you can’t drink it. The water in that pool, just like the entire floor of Death Valley, is filled with salt. That’s why the earliest explorers called it “Badwater Basin.” It looks so good from a distance, but it has nothing to offer a thirsty traveler.

That’s how the Bible describes false teachers and their false promises. Peter writes, “These people are springs without water” (2 Peter 2:17). Have you learned this lesson yet? Sin looks good, but it never delivers. Sex, money, and power promise pleasure, but they lead to disaster. Like Badwater Basin.

There is only One who can truly fill you. There is only One who can truly quench your thirst for meaning and purpose in the desert of life. It’s Jesus! He promises: “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

Watch out for Badwater Basins. You already have living water in Jesus!