“.. and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water..” -John 4:6-7a

For my first post I want to talk about one of my favorite passages in the Bible, one that is near and dear to my heart. There are many aspects to this passage but I want to focus on one in particular. For context the Jews hated the Samaritans. They would often avoid taking the short route from Judea to Galilee through Samaria and go the longer route around Samaria. Also the Samaritan women would usually come to the well at either dusk or dawn in groups not only to draw water but also to socialize. Jesus was traveling to Galilee and decided to go the short route through Samaria, telling his disciples to go into town to buy food.

Now we come to the story. This Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well alone and at noon, the hottest part of the day. Whether she’s there alone because she wanted to be alone or she didn’t have anyone to go with her is unknown at this point. When she comes to the well Jesus asks her for a drink. Now Jesus was tired, hungry, and thirsty from His journey but when He sees this woman He forgets all about His physical needs so He could serve and satisfy the Samaritan’s more deeper needs. The woman was surprised that Jesus, being a Jew, was talking to a Samaritan woman such as herself. Jesus then offers her “living water” and claims that whoever drinks of this water that He offers will never thirst again. The woman, focused only on what her flesh needed and desired, wanted this water so she would never be thirsty again. But Jesus was offering her something way deeper. “Go, call your husband and come here.” She replies that she has no husband, in which Jesus reveals that she has had 5 husbands and the man she is living with currently is not her husband. This Samaritan woman had been living and is still living in a life of sin. Surely the reason she traveled alone to the well was because she was an outcast, people didn’t want to be around her and she didn’t want to be around people either as evidenced by her coming to the well at noon when no sane woman would come.

I can relate so much to this Samaritan woman. Growing up I didn’t have any friends. No one wanted to be my friend and I surely made no effort to befriend anyone. I liked being alone and away from people. I was so focused on what I wanted that I never stopped to think about the needs of those around me. While you may not be able to relate to this woman in this way you can definitely relate to drawing water from wells that don’t satisfy this unquenchable thirst that you have in you. You can’t describe the thirst and a lot of times you may do anything to run away from and ignore it. Whether those wells are relationships, substance abuse, social media, materialism, etc. No matter how many times we may come to those wells, though for a moment they may bring comfort, they never truly fill the emptiness within us and just leave us feeling broken and wanting more.

“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.” -Jeremiah 2:13

“..If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” -John 7:37

Jesus is the Living Water. He knows all about the wells we run to and why we run to them. He knows every little detail about us, even those we hide from others and even ourselves sometimes. He knows it all yet does not condemn but offers Himself, freely and without measure. God is the One our hearts were created for and the One who can quench our thirst. In Him there is endless love and grace, peace that surpasses all understanding and joy that endures through all circumstances. The wounds that we suffer when we trip and fall as we run to those wells that don’t satisfy, He offers healing and freedom from chasing after those worthless things. Those of you, like me, who may be currently running to those empty wells and resisting His love; He understands and will allow us to run to those empty things until we see their worthlessness and ultimately see His worthiness. Perhaps you have been hurt so much that you can’t believe Someone would love you despite all of your bruises and scars. I’ve been there and sometimes still come back to it. It’s okay. One of the many truths I’ve come to know about God is that He never stops pursuing. He wants your heart and is jealous for it. He wants you to come and enjoy Him, the Living Water.

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 22:1-2