“For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” – Psalms 36:9

One day, several years ago, I was meditating in prayer along the banks of the Rogue River in awe of the wonders that are to be discovered in the creation of Elohim. I was pursuing a master’s degree in Environmental Education at the time, and had been learning about invertebrates that spend the first stage of their life-cycle as aquatic juveniles. Some of these species are used by ecologists (and fishermen) to determine the health of a stream. Some, like stoneflies, caddisflies, and mayflies are intolerant to pollution, so if you find them in a stream then that means the stream is healthy. Others, like black flies and mosquitoes are OK with polluted water. It’s interesting that the pests are good in the dirty water…

Insects like stoneflies are amazing creatures of Yah’s creation. They require cold, clean, well oxygenated water to survive. If the water becomes too polluted, they will die off. I’m reminded of Yeshua’s words when He said in John 7:37-38, “And on the last day, the great day of the festival, יהושע stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me, and let him who believes in Me drink. As the Scripture said, out of His innermost shall flow rivers of living water.”

As believers in Messiah Yeshua, and guardians of the Torah of YHWH, we must come to the rivers of Living Water. It is the pure and living Word that sustains us when we walk in the ways of the Most High. Many, if not most of us have been brought-up in a polluted world, saturated with sin, it is a world that has turned away from the Most High. Like the prophet Jeremiah says, they have forsaken the fountains of living water, Jeremiah 2:13:

“For My people have done two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns, which do not hold water.”

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans, tells us that the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the favorable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah יהושע our Master.”

Like the stonefly that is intolerant to polluted waters, meaning that it can’t survive in them, so too we are intolerant to the pollution of sin which also causes death. Yet, we have everlasting life in Messiah Yeshua, and like the woman at the well, we must ask Him for these living waters:

“A woman of Shomeron came to draw water. יהושע said to her, “Give Me to drink.” For His taught ones had gone off into the city to buy food. The woman of Shomeron therefore said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Yehuḏi, ask a drink from me, a woman of Shomeron?” For Yehuḏim do not associate with Shomeronim. Yeshua answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of Elohim, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me to drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said to Him, “Master, You have no vessel, and the well is deep. From where, then, do You have living water? Are You greater than our father Ya‛aqob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle? יהושע answered and said to her, “Everyone drinking of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I give him shall certainly never thirst. And the water that I give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to Him, “Master, give me this water, so that I do not thirst, nor come here to draw.” – John 4:7-15

Stoneflies, as stated above, live most of their life as aquatic juveniles and, depending upon the species, will molt or shed their exoskeletons upwards of 30-50 times before they emerge from the water changed into terrestrial adults. This is called “incomplete” metamorphosis (compared to “complete” metamorphosis like that which butterflies undergo that has a pupal stage – both “incomplete” and “complete” metamorphosis are equally amazing). When we, like the woman at the well, come to the Living Waters to drink, we may find at times that we go through phases of repentance where we may be able to rid our lives of certain types of sin quite easily, yet others are seemingly harder to let go. Like the stonefly larva shedding it’s exoskeleton over-and-over again through a type of metamorphosis, we too must turn in repentance over-and-over again as we change into the “new creature.”

“Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creature – the old matters have passed away, see, all matters have become renewed!” – 2 Corinthians 2:15

The Hebrew word for repent is shuv (שׁוּב) and means to turn-back, return, refresh, restore, among other things. When we repent we return, we turn-back, are refreshed and restored – shedding that old self and being made new. Shuv is the root word for teshuva, which means to return – kind of like spring which happens seasonally over-and-over again, year-after-year. When we repent, it is not a one-time thing, we must continually be in repentance, constantly in a process of returning and renewal – teshuva.

Interestingly there are two words in the Greek texts of the New Testament used for “repent”: metamelomai and metanoeō.

Metamelomai (μεταμέλομαι) is Strong’s G3338, where it says that “it is a care to one afterwards, it repents one, to repent one’s self.” Meta- is a prefix that essentially means “with” and “melo” means to be concerned, so “with concern”. What the word means is that after we realized that we have sin in our lives, we become concerned about this after the fact. A very clear example of this is found in Matthew 23:7 when Judas realizes his betrayal of Messiah has condemned Him to death:

“Then Yehuḏah – he who delivered Him up – having seen that He had been condemned, repented, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and to the elders.”

By that point, it was too little too late for Judas, but this passage is a good illustration of the meaning of metamelomai.

The other word for repentance in the Greek texts is Strong’s G3340 metanoeō and means “to change one’s mind for the better; heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins,” and “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction).” This word is comprise of meta- (like before) and “noeō” which means to “perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding to think upon, heed, ponder, consider.” In other words it means “to have understanding of one’s past sins and change one’s mind for the better.”

First we realize and have concern for one’s past sins, metamelomai. Then one changes their mind for the better with abhorrence for those sins, thinking differently afterwards, and feeling morally compelled to act differently – metanoeō. This deeper understanding of what repentance means brings light to what the process entails. As stated before, these words and definitions are found in Strong’s concordance under G3338 and G3340, respectively.

Interestingly, nestled between these two words, G3338 and G3340, is of course G3339: metamorphoō (where we get the word “metamorphosis”). Metamorphoō means, like metamorphosis, to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure.

“And He was transformed before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light.” – Matthew 17:2 

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.” – Romans 12:2

“Now יהוה is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of יהוה is, there is freedom. And we all, as with unveiled face we see as in a mirror the esteem of יהוה, are being transformed into the same likeness from esteem to esteem, as from יהוה, the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

How amazing is that? When we step away from the polluted waters of sin and death, and come to the Living Waters we become convicted and concerned about our past sinful life. Then we begin a process of renewing our minds as we drink from the fountains of Living Water so that we are transformed into the same likeness of YHWH in the spirit.

“Beloved ones, now we are children of Elohim. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone having this expectation in Him cleanses himself, as He is clean. Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Everyone staying in Him does not sin. Everyone sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one lead you astray. The one doing righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. The one doing sin is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested: to destroy the works of the devil. Everyone having been born of Elohim does not sin, because His seed stays in him, and he is powerless to sin, because he has been born of Elohim.” – 1 John 3:2-9

When the stonefly has reached a point where it’s ready, it will find a blade of grass, or a rock to climb out onto. At this point they shed their juvenile exoskeleton one last time, and emerge changed into many various colors and sizes of beautifully winged terrestrial adults. You will find the empty exoskeletons all over the place during the summer along the banks of rivers and streams.

This metamorphosis is a metaphor for Yah’s purpose for mankind. We must come to the Living Waters, and come out of the polluted waters – which is the sin that kills us – and over time we shed our old selves. Maybe we need to shed aspects of our old selves many, many times. When His timing is perfected, He gives us a Rock to stand on knowing that one day we will be changed with newly refreshed, resurrected, and glorified bodies.

As I stood meditating on the Rogue River that day many years ago, I looked down and saw a perfect little shell of a stonefly exoskeleton. Reaching down, I picked it up, observing it’s frail and intricate details. That was when I heard the still small voice inside, and it said:

Be the stonefly.