Thirst No More

 Hello Bride of Christ, 

When I was training for a half marathon race my main concern was whether or not I would have enough water on my run. I trained with so many different water carrying devices. Some of these devices would be wrapped around my waist and offer different amounts of water. You would think it would be easy to just strap a belt around your waist, fill up the 3-4 containers and just start running! But no. 

The belt around the waist for me was constraining and heavy. Who wants to run 13 miles? Who wants to run 13 miles with baggage? 

I finally came across the water carrying device I would go with. It was one jug. I would carry it strapped to my hand. As I drank from it the bottle would condense itself... slowly becoming lighter and lighter. Problem was that it was a limited amount of water. I only had one jug. I would have to pace myself and really become in tune with understanding if my body was hydrated in order to take sips of water when I really needed it. 

Praise Jesus that He uses everyday ordinary needs to speak to us about our spiritual lives. Today we will journey to Samaria and meet Jesus by a well to learn of a water that activates our inner most parts with just a sip. 

Are you thirsty? 

Take a moment here to pause and read the book of John chapter 4 verses 1-42. 

I want to draw your attention to the well. This was not just some ordinary well. This was a well Jacob, the one God called Israel, gave as a inheritance to his son Joseph. Joseph who was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery by his brothers. Jacob had created this well when he arrived safely in Shechem (also known as Sychar) after making peace with his brother Esau, who he was in a dispute with for many years. Jesus knowing this well's history and significance uses this place to meet with a Samaritan woman. Just like Esau and Jacob, Jews and Samaritans at the time did not think the best of one another.

The Samaritan woman doing what she probably did daily went to this well to draw water to be able to complete her daily tasks and provide for her daily needs.  She comes up to this well to notice a Jew sitting by it. Using my creative imagination, she was probably thinking I hope this man does not harasses me or give me a hard time to use the well that is so clearly in my territory. So naturally when Jesus tells her "Give me a drink" she responses "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."  Not only can you feel the hatred between the Jews and Samaritans in her response, but the pure shock of Jesus's vulnerability. The Jew needed something from a Samaritan? A Samaritan woman at that? Very similar to the tension between Esau and Jacob. 

Jesus responds, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." (John 4: 10) Jesus draws out of the woman her knowledge of the well's history for she asks Jesus, "Are you greater than our father Jacob...?" The Samaritan woman knew the history of the well and its significance of peace, but had turned it into an ordinary part of life. If God had allowed two people groups to dispute and come to peace here before... could He not do it again for the Jews and the Samaritans? Could God not bring peace to the inner battles between spirit and physical? Was not this well a symbol of God's ability to bring peace to any battle? 

Reflection

Like us the woman misunderstood Jesus command for a drink of water for a question. Jesus said, "Give me a drink." Not "May I have a drink?" He was reflecting to her what she desired. This is why Jesus responded to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." (John 4:10) Simply, if she knew it was the Messiah speaking to her she would of responded to the command with an ask because she would have realized her need.  

Jesus does not give up though on us, much like this woman, so He responds once again to move her mind from the physical to the spiritual, from the well to her heart, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13-14)

Are you in the same place as this woman going through life turning what God has placed in her life to remember His goodness and power (the well) and seeing it as ordinary? 

Are you going to the place of refreshing and misunderstanding what God is telling you? 

Is the water spring in your heart clogged by the shame of your sin?

The amazing thing, as this woman encountered and learned Jesus will meet you wherever you are, whether Samaria by a well or in Jerusalem. Jesus will use life experiences and family history to open your eyes to who He is and what He desires for you. Sin has no bounds on you. Sin does not keep you from Jesus seeing you and knowing you. In fact sin is what caused Jesus to come down and step in the gap as your redeemer. 

May you hear Jesus today offering you a drink from the fountain of life. May your heart respond as this woman, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." (John 4:15) 

Bride of Christ, be comforted that it is meeting you on a daily basis that fills Jesus to the point of not being hungry, for He says, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." (John 4: 34) You are God's will and work which Jesus found fulfilling and a joy. So go and thirst no more; your Savior is waiting to fill you up to overflowing!