The Thirst is Real
What if you encountered something that will change the whole way you look at life and what you crave? Some of the most life changing moments come unexpected but are imperative for the trajectory of our lives. Join me as we visit the Samaritan's woman life changing experience at the well.
Happy Women's Month to all the women out there! I hate to leave the men out these last weeks but as I stated before in previous blogs, God is doing something spectacular with the women! There is something special about what the woman offers to the world. He definitely sees us as a valuable asset to his plan. In so much that there are various stories of how the encounters that they faced changed their lives.
I wanted to focus this blog post on the Samaritan woman at the well. She was unlike the woman with the issue of blood that ran out of physicians or resources to aid in her healing and went in pursuit to be healed, this was a woman that that received what she needed unexpectedly. It was through this encounter that her life was evaluated.
The text about the woman starts from John 4:7 with the woman coming to the well to draw water. Some researchers suggest, according to historical traditions, that she was an outcast due to fetching water all by herself. The woman was fetching water in the noon day ( the time of day indicated in scripture when Jesus came to the well) which by tradition the women usually come as a group to the well's in the morning, sort of a congregating at the water cooler type of deal.
So you all should know by now that I am a word person and I had to look up what the meaning of WELL was in the dictionary.
A well is a source from which something may be drawn as needed. I want us to keep in mind at this point and picture what well's we are currently drawing from? What sources are we drawing from that we fill will fulfil and sustain us outside of Jesus? I may be getting a little a head of myself but I just want to pin that there for a second to ponder on. As we read on, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink. This was off putting to her because Jews has nothing to do with Samaritans. Now this is another point to ponder on when Jesus answered the woman. He answered her
Jesus replied, if you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.
- John 4:10
So Jesus is basically lays out a bit of bait for the woman to see if she would bite or be ready to receive the life changing message He had for her. Of course she answers with a natural answer telling Him that He has no bucket and rope to and the well is deep and then ask how would He get this living water. Not realizing and evaluating the word "living" attached to the response. Jesus was offering something that was alive. Jesus answered the woman letting her know that
"Everyone who drink this water will be thirsty again, , but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water (satisfying his thirst for God) welling up (continually flowing, bubbling within him) to eternal life)
-John 4:13-14
The text then goes on to the woman finally being sold with what Jesus was talking about and she asked for the living water. The way to eternal life. She stated that she didn't want to be thirsty any longer. In this moment, did she really realize what was going on? Isn't this how we are with God? We ask Him for something that may sound good without knowing the cost? Without writing the rest of the scripture down, I will just run through what happened. Jesus then told the woman after she stated that she indeed wanted the living water, to go call her husband and come back. The woman admitted she didn't have a husband. Jesus then told her that she was correct she did not have a husband and in fact she had 5 husbands and the one that she is living with is not her husband. He again told her that she was telling the truth. In this instance the Samaritan woman was confronted with her situation. In this encounter, at this source of trying to draw from what she needed, she went into self evaluation mode.
Jesus appeared to be satisfied that she was able to tell the truth about her situation. Can we evaluate our situations and see the things that we once were thirsty for as something that no longer serves us any longer? This may not be a popular blog for some but it is needed for all. This thirst for things other than God is indeed REAL. As Jesus stated that that everyone who drinks from THIS well will continually be thirsty.
Thirst by definition is:
a sensation of dryness in the mouth and throat associated with a desire for liquids; also : the bodily condition (as of dehydration) that induces this sensation.
To be thirsty is to be desperate and desperation will lead you into desperate relationships and desperate situations. What are you thirsty for outside of Jesus?
What keeps you going back but yet has yet produced any contentment in your life?
The fact of the matter is that it just wont! As Jesus clearly stated in his parable about the well and the water. Anything that you use as a source and has made a life source outside of Jesus will leave you still longing.
So with this encounter this woman's thirst changed from the things of the world, the life she settled for, to the thirst for eternal salvation and she didn't even know it. She was open to God speaking to her, ministering to her, and she wanted what He offered which was salvation. THEN she went back to her town. This woman that was an outcast that changed her thirst in so much that she left her water jar at the well, and brought back a testimony that convinced an entire town to come see a man that told her everything that she has done. He is the Messiah! What a transformation!
I am writing all of this as an evaluation tool to prepare for what God has in store for the women, but to remind us all that the foundation starts with Jesus for a fruitful future.