John 4:13-14 (NIV) Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.”
In late summer when a hurricane barreled toward my state, people bought every water bottle on store shelves leaving nothing. When I stopped at the grocery store on the night before the hurricane made landfall, the store manager told me that his store would get another shipment of water by the next morning. I knew that I had to arrive early so, thankfully, I got there in time and grabbed enough water to last for a few days. If the hurricane were to destroy the water supply, I had water bottles as a backup plan for survival. Just knowing that I had water eased my mind as we prepared for high winds, flooding and buckets of rain.
As human beings, we have a basic physical need for water and a basic emotional need to be loved and heard. I believe that the Holy Spirit meets us and fills our deepest needs. In the book of John, Jesus met with a woman because He knew that she longed for someone to listen and for someone to love her. You see, she had searched for love in all the wrong places and lived in a spiritual desert.
Jesus spoke with this woman at Jacob’s Well and told her that He was the Living Water that her soul needed. The story began when Jesus asked this Samaritan woman for a drink of water at Jacob’s Well. Since He had been traveling, He was thirsty and she had a container. In their culture at the time, it was socially unacceptable for a Jewish man to talk to a Samaritan woman in public but still, Jesus connected with her using her basic need for water. Sure, he needed a refreshing in his human body because he was thirsty from traveling, but He knew that this woman was parched spiritually. She didn’t fit in with most people in the town because of the choices that she had made. You could say that she had tried a variety of ways to quench her thirst but nothing had satisfied her until her divine appointment at noon with Jesus.
Jesus in John 4:13-15 told her these words:
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He convinced the woman at the well of her need for His life giving water and she accepted his offer! Her willingness to accept Him moves my heart because I too have recognized my need for Jesus. Nothing or nobody can restore my heart like being with Jesus. He will provide Himself to us perpetually, springing up in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, to replenish, restore and remind us of the peace, hope and eternal life that are found only by trusting in Him.
Once the woman at the well recognized and accepted His offer, she ran back to the town and told others about Jesus, the Messiah. She had met him and was changed because she realized that He had a gift that she wanted. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus used the simplicity of water to reach this thirsty soul?
Jesus says “the water I give them” multiple times in this story to make it clear that we don’t earn His gift, but He gives it freely.
Friend, I believe that He still sits close by where we are dipping into our own wells to find the next thing to satisfy our wandering hearts. He cares about you and offers you the same Living Water gift that the Samaritan woman received.
In His longest recorded conversation in the Bible with the woman at the well, He revealed Himself as the supplier of Living Water. His divine appointment opened her eyes to Him as the long awaited Messiah and gave her hope. Jesus is waiting to spring up within us and allow rivers of Living Water to flow within our hearts and minds. Water bottles provided some level of security to me during the storm, but Jesus supplies my peace of mind daily.
Ask Him now to meet you and refresh your heart.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you will again meet us where we are today. Spring up in our hearts and refresh our weary souls. Revive us and restore us with the truths in your Word. We accept your gift of Living Water. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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