READ: John 4:3-30
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. - John 4:13-14
RELATED READINGS: Psalm 42:1-11, John 7:37-39, Revelation 7:16-17
Moving water has a fascination of its own. Creeks gurgle, waterfalls plummet, springs bubble, ocean tides crash. The bubbles, foam and noise draws us. The water sustains us. We need water for our physical life, but it also somehow soothes our spirit.
Desert animals travel many miles to find a water hole. City birds cluster in birdbaths or rain puddles. Grocery shoppers pay several dollars for plastic bottles of water. For thousands of years springs and wells provided the only access to clean water. City planners designed their locations around reliable water sources. Hauling water from long distances was hard, thirst-inducing work.
When Jesus compared life with Him to a never-ending, thirst-quenching spring, the image resonated with a hardworking Samaritan woman. Water got her attention, for she was thirsty.
Though she had come to the well to draw water, Jesus knew she needed more than physical water; she needed Him. She had tried to find satisfaction drinking from wells of the world, but no man had truly quenched her thirst. Then she met Jesus, who knew everything she ever did. This Man became a wellspring of life-giving truth that overflowed to her community.
What do you really thirst for? Do you long to know the meaning of your life? Are you longing for the kind of love that fills you up rather than drains you? Are you forever trying to find acceptance and respect? Or are those longings so deep and buried that you can't even say what you want or need? Perhaps you can't even get beyond just feeling... empty.
Only Jesus can identify those deep longings and fill your thirsty soul. Seek out the One who offers you living water. Come to Him. He won't be surprised at how empty you are. He knows everything you ever did. He's the wellspring who will fill you to overflowing with His goodness and love.
In this dry desert season of the heart, we are watered by God's promise of sustenance and fullness of life to come. - Wendy M. Wright
Your Turn
- Would you describe your relationship with Jesus as a life-giving stream or a parched desert?
- When and where do you feel closest to Jesus?
- How has Jesus satisfied your spiritual thirst?
From:NIV Women's Devotional Bible
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