Woman at the Well : Living Water

Dec. 23

Read:John 4:1-43

Woman at the Well : Living Water

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” - Jesus (v.10)

Jesus never leaves us thirsty for long. In fact, Christ’s desire is to satisfy the thirst of the people of God. If you know Christ, then you will ask him to give you “living water”. If you do not know him - if you do not know who Jesus truly is - then you will continue to overlook his offer of the very thing which will quench your thirst. He says this point-blank to the woman at the well in the verse above!

How is it that we receive this “living water” from Christ? We need only to ask. That is it. We simply ask him for it when we meet him. For the Samaritan woman who comes to the well, she has no idea that she will come upon Jesus sitting there. It was truly out of her control - the timing that is. Similar to the previous verses that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus:

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” - Jesus (v.3:7,8)

The woman cannot control or manipulate her meeting with Christ… it is the Spirit which leads Jesus to this well for this meeting divinely appointed by the Father. The Father sent the Son to this well to bring “living water” to this woman and she didn’t even know it. She had no idea that day what was in store for her when she woke up. Those things she was so “thirsty for”… her deepest wants and needs… would finally be met by Christ. All these years of her scrambling after something… all the mis-steps and broken relationships… the desperate mistakes that her “thirst”had led her to… that would all change today after meeting Christ. The same is true for us. Think back to the time when Christ first met YOU.

Why is it that we don’t ask Jesus for “living water”? Why is it that we don’t think he would “give us a drink” or “satisfy” our thirst? It is because we don’t know him. The heart and Character of Jesus is that he gives living water to the children of God. He satisfies our thirst. God is not angry with his children for getting thirsty. God does not shake his head because you become parched and long for the proverbial “cool drink” in this arid world. Quite the opposite actually… God is good, loving, kind, merciful, ,and forgiving. He sent the Son, Jesus, to bring us the “cool drink” that we long for.

In Jeremiah 2:13 God says through the prophet:

“…for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

God describes himself as a “fountain of living water” and he says that it is just as big an “evil” that we NEGLECT his living water as it is an “evil” that we go to “broken cisterns” that hold nothing for us. This woman at the well had gone to broken sisters so many times, now it was time for her to discover the living water and drink from it. It is a SIN to neglect the living water!

Have you run across Jesus at the well before? Do you remember that Christ dwells within you, and is with you throughout each and every day? Do you ask him for the living water that you long for? There is a transformation that takes place in the people of God once we receive the “living water” from Christ. This is yet another example of why Christ came to this earth. The Father sent the Son into this thirsty world to bring living water to his people. We need only ask Jesus. If you know him, you will ask and receive! Jesus becomes a wellspring within us…filling us with LIFE and PEACE. Jesus is indeed the one whom the angels sung about:

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:10-14)

Here’s to LIVING WATER! - Love you guys! - JDP