Introduction
Are you willing to walk a narrow, uncomfortable path for the sake of receiving and sharing what you truly need? Here’s the central lesson I want to press into your heart: God often supplies His life-giving provision through faithful, intentional work, and discipleship calls us to step into the narrow places with trust and perseverance so that others can drink too. In Jerusalem there’s an ancient waterway called Hezekiah’s Tunnel, carved through rock to bring water into the city. Walking through it is a vivid picture of discipleship: it’s real, it’s costly, it’s often tight and uncomfortable, and yet it leads to a place of provision.
Main Points
Are you willing to walk a narrow, uncomfortable path for the sake of receiving and sharing what you truly need? Here’s the central lesson I want to press into your heart: God often supplies His life-giving provision through faithful, intentional work, and discipleship calls us to step into the narrow places with trust and perseverance so that others can drink too.
In Jerusalem there’s an ancient waterway called Hezekiah’s Tunnel, carved through rock to bring water into the city. Walking through it is a vivid picture of discipleship: it’s real, it’s costly, it’s often tight and uncomfortable, and yet it leads to a place of provision.
God Uses Ordinary Means For Provision
Standing in a place like Hezekiah’s Tunnel, I’m reminded how God provides water, something essential for life, through a real channel. The tunnel existed to supply the city of Jerusalem with water. That’s discipleship language.
Yes, God can provide miraculously, but He often chooses to provide through means: through planning, labor, wisdom, and perseverance. Scripture repeatedly shows God using practical channels for His purposes. Think of how God provides daily bread (Matthew 6:11) and living water (John 4:14), often through faithful steps and faithful people.
As your discipler, I want you to see this: don’t despise the “channel.” God may be shaping you into a conduit of His provision for others, through your service, your steady obedience, your habits, and your willingness to do hard things.
The Narrow Way Trains Our Trust
Walking the tunnel is startling because of how narrow it is, “about the size of a normal man.” You feel the confinement. You’re aware of your limits.
That’s a spiritual reality too. Jesus said the way is narrow that leads to life (Matthew 7:13–14). Discipleship isn’t a wide, comfortable road where I keep all my preferences and still follow Jesus wholeheartedly. It’s a narrowing: of self-rule, of sin patterns, of pride, of distractions.
Let me ask you gently: where is Jesus inviting you into a narrower obedience right now? A narrowed schedule so you can pray? A narrowed appetite so you can fast? A narrowed tongue so you stop tearing down and start building up? The narrow way is not punishment, it’s training. It teaches us to rely on God when we cannot rely on spacious comfort.
Perseverance In The Dark Forms Us
The tunnel is not a quick stroll. It’s 30 to 40 minutes of steady walking. You keep moving forward even when it’s repetitive and when you can’t see the end yet.
That’s how spiritual formation often feels. Growth is rarely instant. Love, humility, purity, courage, and consistency are carved into us over time. Scripture calls us to endurance: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). The “tunnel seasons” of life, when it feels tight and slow, are not wasted. God is doing deep work you may not be able to measure in the moment.
So I want you to practice this: keep walking. Keep praying. Keep repenting. Keep showing up. Don’t interpret delay as denial. Often, God is doing the kind of work that only happens through continued steps.
Expect Discomfort Along The Journey
In the tunnel, you don’t just walk, you get wet. It’s inconvenient and messy. You can’t go through without feeling it.
Following Jesus is like that. Discipleship is not theoretical; it touches your life, your relationships, your money, your time, your habits, your comfort. When Jesus calls us to take up our cross (Luke 9:23), He’s telling us to expect real cost and real discomfort.
But hear me: discomfort is not automatically a sign you’re doing something wrong. Sometimes it’s a sign you’re finally doing something real. If obedience is stretching you, that may be evidence you’re alive and moving.
Faithful Labor Leaves A Lifegiving Legacy
What’s so striking about this place is imagining people long ago carving through rock so an entire city could have water. Some shaping came naturally, water erosion, but much of it required ingenuity and effort.
That’s a picture of discipleship investment. Some growth happens over time through the “erosion” of life, trials, experiences, consequences. But much growth requires intentional carving: Scripture intake, prayer discipline, honest confession, wise counsel, and doing the next right thing even when it’s hard.
I want you to see your life this way: God can use your obedience to become a channel of blessing for others. Your choices can “bring water” to a home, a church, a friend group, a workplace. Your faithfulness can outlive you.
The Journey Leads To A Shared Pool
After the long walk, the tunnel opens up to the pool, the place where water gathered so people could come and collect it. The goal wasn’t merely the tunnel; the goal was accessible supply.
In discipleship, we don’t pursue spiritual growth as an end in itself. We pursue Christ so that we can worship Him, enjoy Him, and serve His people. Healthy discipleship always has an “end pool” in mind: a place where others can drink, where your life becomes a source of encouragement, truth, prayer, and practical help (John 7:38).
So let’s make this practical. Ask yourself:
- Who is meant to be refreshed by what God is doing in me?
- Where can I share what I’m learning, at home, in a small group, with a younger believer?
- What would it look like to turn my private obedience into public blessing?
Conclusion
Hezekiah’s Tunnel is a powerful lived parable: narrow, wet, repetitive, and yet purposeful, leading to a place of provision for many. In the same way, discipleship is often uncomfortable and slow, but it is not pointless. God uses faithful steps to form you and to supply others through you.
So I’m calling you to keep walking the narrow way with Jesus. Don’t quit in the tight places. Don’t despise the slow progress. Trust that God is carving something life-giving through your obedience, and He will bring you, and others, into His provision.
Father, thank You for being our Provider and for giving us not only daily bread but living water through Jesus Christ. Teach me to embrace the narrow way and to trust You in the tight, uncomfortable places. Give me endurance when the path feels long and repetitive. Shape my life into a channel of Your grace so that others may be refreshed and strengthened through what You are doing in me. Lead me by Your Spirit, keep me faithful, and bring me to the place where my life points others to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Hezekiah’s Tunnel is a powerful lived parable: narrow, wet, repetitive, and yet purposeful, leading to a place of provision for many. In the same way, discipleship is often uncomfortable and slow, but it is not pointless. God uses faithful steps to form you and to supply others through you.
So I’m calling you to keep walking the narrow way with Jesus. Don’t quit in the tight places. Don’t despise the slow progress. Trust that God is carving something life-giving through your obedience, and He will bring you, and others, into His provision.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for being our Provider and for giving us not only daily bread but living water through Jesus Christ. Teach me to embrace the narrow way and to trust You in the tight, uncomfortable places. Give me endurance when the path feels long and repetitive. Shape my life into a channel of Your grace so that others may be refreshed and strengthened through what You are doing in me. Lead me by Your Spirit, keep me faithful, and bring me to the place where my life points others to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.