6/3/2025
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:37-38
Sometimes traversing the road of life becomes staggering, as we attempt to manage on our own every ebb and flow, every twist and turn, every victory, and even every defeat, although I do not accept defeat easily. Set backs, yes, but down and out finality, no way! As for me, I know that God has given us too many promises, and He is faithful to His word. I dare not attempt anything without Him leading the way. Each day we have an opportunity to speak life into the lives of others, introducing them to the Bread of Heaven and the Living Water that Jesus Himself declared.
When Jesus encountered the woman at the well of Sychar, a woman of incontestable immorality, forced to get water at the well mid-day when the sun was scorching hot, and no one else was around, He taught her about the living water available to her through Him. Reading from John 4:
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus 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.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Up to this time Jesus had only ministered to the Jewish people, so her initial responses and hesitancy were to be expected. After all she was a woman marked by the many character flaws her life presented. All through history it has been the custom to pick out the weakness of women while ignoring the indiscretions of men. But as always, Jesus does nothing by happenstance:
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Jesus chose this woman to introduce Himself as Messiah, and because of this scorned woman's testimony, the village welcomed Him, and He was able to minister to the people, much to the initial chagrin of some of his disciples.
When Israel sinned and refused to follow the Lord, in His angry He sent the Assyrians and Babylonians to conquer the land, seize the temple and destroy it, tear down the walls of Jerusalem, and He exiled them to nations whose gods they served, abandoning Him. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the time promised by God to renew Israel, as He had a remnant of believers scattered among the nations. In Ezekiel 36 God says:
"23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God."
Through Ezekiel God is speaking of the time when Living Water will be poured out upon His people, and they will be cleansed. He promises a new heart with His laws written on a heart of flesh rather than on stone tablets. Ezekiel is speaking prophetically of the time in which Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well. He speaks of new life and a time when all will know that He is God. Jesus speaks to us today of this same Living Water when we accept Him as Savior of our lives.
I love the richness of the scriptures. While some may consider them boring or irrelevant, it simply is not true. Each day I drink in the living water of His word, and I am refreshed. In Psalm 23, the psalm most people, even non-Christians, often recite from memory. Listen to the words and marvel at the wonders of how He cares for and takes care of us:
"The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever."
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