3/9/10 John 4
Living Water
(Jn 4:10)10Jesus answered and said to 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.”
There is one thing that is absolutely vital for life; water. If you take a quick read through the book of Genesis you will find out quickly that where ever the patriarchs went they had to find water if they were going to settle or remain there for any length of time. Here in John 4:6 it mentions Jacob’s well that was still providing water to people hundreds of years later. If you read Genesis 26 you will find that sometimes enemies stopped up the wells in order to gain control over portions of the land. Here in this chapter Jesus confronts a woman who has come to Jacob’s well to draw water.
Jesus asks the woman for a drink and she is surprised by this because she recognizes that Jesus is a Jew and she is a Samaritan. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, let alone share food and water. Jesus tells her if she knew the gift of God, she would have asked Him for a drink and He would have given her living water. She does not understand what Jesus is saying to her at all, because she still understands the conversation from a physical and human perspective, but Jesus has moved the conversation to spiritual realities from God’s perspective.
Have you experienced the living water that Jesus is speaking about? Jesus is greater that Jacob who dug this well that served people for hundreds of years, but this water was not flowing, it was still and only sufficient to meet the physical needs for many. Jesus offers the women living water spring up to eternal life, but not just to her. He offers it to us as well. Notice what the woman does when she understands that Jesus is the living water of which he speaks. She leaves her waterpot in verse 28, the physical need is no longer the attention, but the spiritual need, and she goes to tell others in her city about Jesus. I said at the beginning that water is vital for life the same is true spiritually. If you are to have eternal life you must receive this living water into your life and this living water is Jesus himself.
For those who have received Jesus and believed on His name are you experiencing the living water that Jesus speaks about or has the enemy tried to stop up the well? Maybe you have departed from the living water and become satisfied with the stagnant water that is not guaranteed.
(Je 2:13)13“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
What has replaced Jesus in your life? What physical thing has your time, attention, affection, and devotion? Take some time right now to identify why you have departed from the Lord. What do you trust in to satisfy your thirst? Often times we will attempt to use the physical to satisfy the spiritual. The woman in John 4 used men (John 4:16-18) but found them lacking.
Prayer: Dear Father, I thirst for more of you. I thirst for others to experience the fountain of living waters. You know my favorite drink is ice cold water. There is nothing that satisfies my physical thirst like ice cold water, but there is nothing that can replace or satisfy me spiritually like Jesus. Thank you for providing living water to me, in Jesus name. Amen