IS YOUR WELL FLOWING

WITH LIVING WATER?

There are many people around us who are dry and thirsty in their souls.  They hunger and thirst for “things” but nothing seems to satisfy, and they may wonder why they feel so empty.  I think about those who seemingly are lost without hope, alone in this world.

 I recently saw a newscast about a young woman who was being released from prison.  The commentator mentioned that here was a young lady totally hated by society and her family.  She said she didn’t even have a pair of shoes and only the clothes on her back, and nowhere to go.  She has no one to turn to.  I felt deep compassion for her and prayed that the Lord would send someone her way who would show her the way to Jesus, the Living Water.

In thinking about her, I was reminded about another woman in the New Testament.  We don’t know her name.  We only know her as “The Woman at the Well.”  We find her story in John, chapter 4.

 But he needed to go through Samaria.  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob’s well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”  John 4:4-6

He needed to go through Samaria.  He had a Divine appointment waiting there.  Jesus was very tired.   He knows what it feels like to be bone-tired!  “Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted” Hebrews 2:18. (NLT)  Sometimes the storms rage, the problems come, and we continue to struggle and we become weary, but Jesus understands He has been there!

Women of the village came to draw water twice each day, morning and evening. But you notice this woman came at noon, alone.  We are sure she came alone to avoid the other women, who knew of her reputation.

This woman was a Samaritan, a member of a hated mixed race.  She was known to be living in sin.  This was a public place and no respectable Jewish man would talk to a woman under such circumstances.  But isn’t it wonderful, but Jesus did!  Jesus always reached out to untouchables, the lonely, people who were the lowest in society.  And He still is reaching out today.  It doesn’t matter what you have done, or where you are in life.  Jesus is there! 

 She questions in verse 9, why He a Jewish man would ask her for a drink, since Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

 Jesus answered and said unto her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (verse 10)

Jesus directed her attention to God and what He wanted to give her “the gift of God” and on Himself who would give her this gift.  He spoke to her of Living Water.  In the Old Testament we find many scriptures about thirsting after God.  God is called “The fountain of life in Psalms 36:9.  In Jeremiah 2:13 God is called “the fountain of living water.” In saying He could give her living water, He was claiming to be the Messiah, as only He could give this gift to satisfy the soul’s desire.

The woman questions Him why He would want to draw water from this well as the well is deep and He has nothing with Him to draw water and wanted to know where He would get this living water.

Jesus answered and said to her, “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

The thirsty soul need only to come to Jesus for living water, and that water will bubble up out of his innermost being like a fountain.  In John 7:35, He spoke of that fountain being the Holy Spirit.  In other words, when we are drinking of His fountain, our lives will flow with Holy Spirit power, reaching out to a lost world.  Have you ever met a fellow believer who seems to just bubble with joy?  And oh the lives such a person will touch for the Lord Jesus!

This woman, after Jesus confronts her sin, she realizes the true place of worship.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when we will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. “but the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth”  John 4:21-25.

Jesus directed her attention on true worship of the Father and the fact that “The hour” was His death on the cross that would provide redemption and open the way to the Father for this woman and all of us who would come and accept this wonderful gift of salvation.

This woman was concerned about the place of worship, but Jesus taught her and all of us that the focus is not on the place of worship but on the Person of worship, God the Father.

Are you drinking of the Living Water today?  All the things of this world will not satisfy.  A person could have all the riches of this world and still be thirsty and dry.  He is calling you to the “well.”  This is the well that never runs dry and bubbles up in our lives like a fountain, filled with the Holy Spirit and leading to eternal life.  Won’t you drink of that water today?

Blessings,

Pastor Sharon