Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life.” – John 4:13-14 (Phillips)
Recently, a friend of mine took up the challenge to drink
one gallon of water a day for thirty days. That’s a lot of water, but I’m sure
that on day thirty-one she still became thirsty. No matter how much water you
drink – pipe borne, bottled, sparkling, or filtered – you “will be thirsty again”.
That’s what Jesus impressed upon the woman at Jacob’s well. All the water that man can give you, from the deepest dug well, you’ll be thirsty again and again but He had water to give that would “become a spring” in her, continually bubbling like a flowing fountain. She’d never be thirsty again.
Intrigued, the woman knew that was the water she wanted,
that was the water she needed. Jesus had created in her the sense of need.
The woman said, “Sir, give me
this water, so that I may stop being thirsty—and not have to come here to draw
water anymore!” – John 4:15
(Phillips)
Oh, what a turn of events! She was now asking Him for water
– Jacob gave the well through long and hard labour (John 4:12) but drinking
from it, one will be thirsty again. This is not the water that Jesus offers.
His water is no ordinary water; Jesus has a hidden source of spiritual water
which He wants to give to you.
This was now Jesus’ third statement, and still the woman
hadn’t seen the spiritual meaning in what Jesus was saying to her. Like the
ones on the Emmaus Road (see Luke 24:13-35), she too was slow to recognize that
she was in the midst of a divine encounter, but that was about to change.
The beginning of the Samaritan woman’s transformation and
ours starts with the realization that we are desperately in need of something
so much greater than what our long and hard labour can accomplish.
Beloved, when we realize that nothing and no-one but Jesus
can satisfy that sense of need in us, is when we realize our need for Jesus and
cry out, “give me that water!” (John 4:15 GNT).
Amen †
Shelley Johnson “Jesus creates the sense of need” © 2017 (March 21, 2017) revisited
September 5, 2026
No comments:
Post a Comment