May the Source Be With You: A Woman, a Well and some Water

I was going to start a series on the devil, but I am going to put that off for a week or two. I was doing my devotions the other day, when I came across something I thought may be more helpful for today. I know all of us are struggling with the chaos that we call “the new normal.” None of us really wants to have to deal with the ripple affects of a pandemic, but we are.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay 

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

With the advent of fall we are seeing universities and schools struggling to stay in session. My husband’s university has 60% of their classes online, or hybrid, which is an online, face to face combination of teaching. It has most of the faculty and staff feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. I know the same is true for my grandson’s elementary school as teachers and staff try to deal with technology glitches and having live stream school sessions that last from 9 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. His school is hoping to go to a hybrid plan next week, where students will attend school two days and have three days off. I can’t even imagine how hard this is for everyone. We are not able to go places, see extended family and have regular meet ups with friends at coffee shops or bookstores.

In addition to that, incidents of protests, riots and violence across our country continue to take place. We are heading into an extremely volatile election and the silencing of many with contrary views to the underpinning current of anti conservative voices is leaving us feeling exhausted, anxious and hopeless.

When I read this verse and Oswald’s accompanying devotion, I realized that no matter what happens in the world around us, we are always at liberty to return to the Source

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
— John 7:38 (ESV)

If we believe in Jesus, we have the source of living water. If you take the time to read the story of Jesus and the Samaritan women here in John 4:7-41, you will see this idea of living water spoken of previously by Jesus. This woman who came to the well, knew what hardship was like. She was not only a Samaritan, who the Jews did not look favorably on, she also had been in a number of relationships that went haywire. As Jesus pointed out, she had had five husbands and the man she was currently living with was not her husband.

It was not coincidence that brought her to the well at the exact same time Jesus came to quench his thirst. We can learn a lot from this passage, so let’s take a closer look.

Jesus took the initiative.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
— John 4:7 (ESV)
Pixabay - well

Under normal circumstances a woman was expected to do a man’s bidding. Not only that, but the woman would have had a vessel of some sort, something she could carry water in, making it easier for her to draw water. For Jesus to tell her to give him a drink, would not have been unusual. However, the fact that He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, made it completely abnormal that Jesus would talk to her, let alone allow her to give him a drink.

She knew her place.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
— John 4:9 (ESV)

This woman wasn’t in denial. She knew that Jews did not like Samaritans. She also knew she was a woman in a man’s world. Her response to Jesus was’t one of bitterness or snippiness. I believe she responded with genuine surprise. She restated something both she and Jesus already knew.

Jesus got right to the point.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
— John 4:10 (ESV)

Jesus didn’t argue with the woman about whether she should draw water for Him. He immediately began to tell her about what He had to offer her…living water.

She knew history.

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.
— John 4:11-12 (ESV)
Image by Yoosaf Abdulla from Pixabay 

Image by Yoosaf Abdulla from Pixabay

Just in case you are wondering, the Samaritans were Jewish descendants from the tribes of Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim. They were all descendants of Jacob. The main source of contention between these two people groups revolved around the chosen place to worship God. They were considered mongrels by the Jews due to their being descendants of Jews who had been in captivity in Assyria. In truth, they were all Jews, in the same way today’s term Christian includes both Protestants and Catholics.

Jesus used a physical object to explain a spiritual truth.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
— John 4:13-14 (ESV)

Often when Jesus was teaching he would speak in allegorical pictures. In this particular instance He is describing the relationship with God that all can have, if they just drink His truth. From personal experience, I know this to be true. I have never known anything nor anyone to satisfy like Jesus. Yes, I still walk in this flesh and it craves all sorts of things from clothes to chocolate, but those splurges almost always leave me feeling dissatisfied. Only the time spent with Him in prayer, study of the word, journaling, ranting or singing truly makes me feel full and complete.

You see, the water that Jesus offers to give us is no ordinary spring. It is a spring from an unlimited source and it bubbles eternally. There is no end to this source of living water. It is both unlimited and fulfilling. You might be wondering, how can it be both limitless and yet give complete fulfillment? What would be the point of it being unlimited, if we only had to drink from it once and have our thirst forever quenched? We will get to that in a bit.

Right response, wrong reason.

Image by sutulo from Pixabay

Image by sutulo from Pixabay

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
— John 4:15 (ESV)

The woman’s response is one of desire. She wants this living water, but not for the reason Jesus offered it to her. She wasn’t looking beyond her immediate circumstances and comfort. She wanted the water she thought He was offering, so she would never have to worry about coming to the well again. My suspicion is, she was not always looked upon with kindness in her daily journey to the well. It would have been so much less trouble if she never had to go to the well again.

Nothing is hidden from Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
— John 4:16-18 (ESV)
Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

If the Samaritan woman had been alive today, she would have been wondering if Jesus was part of the CIA or MI6. She would have immediately started looking for hidden cameras and microphones. However, those types of technology didn’t exist back then and even if they did, there was no reason to spy on a middle aged Samaritan woman who was having a string of bad relationships.

The woman was paying attention.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
— John 4:19-20 (ESV)

I believe this woman was rather intelligent. She knew the history of her people, the Samaritans, but she also knew the beliefs of the Jews. Perhaps she is trying to direct the conversation away from the spotlight Jesus has shone on her personal life, or she may actually be curious to know what His opinion was on the point of contention between her people and His. She seems to me, a curious and articulate individual.

A prophet and so much more.

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
— John 4:21-24 (ESV)

The next few sentences Jesus articulates, open a window of knowledge to the woman. I absolutely love how Jesus, in this passage is affirming the value of women. Not only is He speaking to her, even though she is a Samaritan and He is a Jew; He is speaking to her like he would speak to a man. He is giving her an opportunity that many in that time period would not have had. He is giving her a peek into the future. He is also giving her a one on one theology lesson.

Jesus plainly states that things are not going to remain as they were. A day was coming when neither the Jews or the Samaritans would be worshipping in the temple nor on the mountain. If you know anything about Jewish history, you know that is true. In addition, Jesus instructs her that soon all true worshippers would be worshipping God in spirit and in truth. I believe he was giving her a little look into the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. (This is just my opinion. You can find a much more knowledgable opinion in Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary, here.)

She believes in the Messiah.

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
— John 4:25 (ESV)

This woman has faith. She believes the Messiah will come and that when he does, he will explain everything.

Jesus makes a declaration.

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
— John 4:26 (ESV)
Image by Raheel Shakeel from Pixabay

Image by Raheel Shakeel from Pixabay

I will continue with this passage next week, but what I want you to take away from this week’s portion is these ideas:

1 - Nothing happens by chance. Jesus knew he would meet this woman, in fact it was known from the foundation of the world.

2 - He knows everything about you. I know as a woman, I have always had this romantic desire that the man who loved me would study me. He would know everything about me, from the tiniest wart on my toe to the grandest dream I have ever had. My hubby is a good guy and I love him dearly, but he ain’t no Jesus. He is fallen and flawed just like the woman he married.

3 - Women and their desires and dreams are just as valuable and important to Jesus as men.

4 - Only Jesus can provide the living water. All of our efforts to satisfy, get by, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and so on only lead to exhaustion, anxiety and discouragement.

I hope you will join me again next week for the rest of the story. Have a great week.




No Condemnation

I’ve been mulling over what I should focus on in my life as a Christian. There are so many areas where I need to improve or, as I talked about last week, have some discipline. The unfortunate reality is, we can talk all we want about making changes, doing better, being better, but if we don’t actually do it, then where are we? We find ourselves like that noisy gong or clanging cymbal mentioned in I Corinthians 13.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
— I Corinthians 13:1 (NASB)
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Right now, I feel as though God is impressing on me, once again, the importance of prayer. A few weeks ago I had a devastating dream about my younger daughter. In the dream she had died, yet I could see her and it was like she was talking to me. She told me she had cancer and she hadn’t wanted anyone to know. She wanted to die alone, so no one would be grieving over her as she died. It was devastating. I woke up and kept reassuring myself, it was only a dream. Unfortunately, the reality is, many young people we know are not following after Christ. They have bought into the lord of this age and the lies he spins. It was from the despair I felt over the aloneness of my girl that I realized we are losing many of our kids, because we have become overwhelmed with life. At least I have.

I don’t even like to admit this, but I am a failure at prayer. I’m not talking about the daily conversations we have with God; the prayers of thanks, the whispers of panic, the lifting our hands in the air because we don’t know how to pray, prayers. The type of prayer I am talking about is the down on our knees, face in the carpet prayers. I fail at the real spiritual battle prayers. These are the kind of prayers that we need to be praying.

We live in a world where we don’t want to make waves. We talk about kindness, acceptance and love. We want to give and receive acceptance and tolerance. As Christians we have become milk toast; soggy, damp and unappealing. Think about what it is that draws men to Christ. It comes from a heart desperate for meaning and one that recognizes there is a darkness within, wanting to swallow us up, from the inside out. The call of Christ is heard by those who realize there is nothing else, and no one else, who can give life and life more abundantly.

Image by reneebigelow from Pixabay

Image by reneebigelow from Pixabay

What then, is it going to take to get me to pray for the people who need His salvation, as desperately as the one who realizes their need to finally give their lives over to Christ?

Over the next few weeks I want to take a look at Romans chapter 8. I feel this ties into, not only the idea of prayer, but the need for discipline discussed last week. I will approach this study in a similar fashion to my Mulling It Over series, as that is what we will be doing as we look more closely at the chapter.

To see the entire text just click on this link to BibleGateway. com, Romans 8 (I will be using the New American Standard version of the text for most of the discussion).

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
— Romans 8:1 (NASB)

Out of the entirety of the Bible, this is perhaps one of my favorite verses. There are many other verses I love, such as John 3:16 - salvation in a nut shell, Philippians 4:6-8 - promises against anxiety, Jeremiah 29:11 - His plans are for my welfare, and many, many others. However, this verse is so declarative about my relationship and place in Christ, that when the gnawing feeling of being “less than” returns, I quote this verse and am immediately reminded of my place in Him.

In order for us to getting a running start at this verse and this passage, we need to back up and take a look at some of the verses in chapter 7.

14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
— Romans 7:14-25 (NASB)

It is as if the Apostle Paul was walking a mile or two in my shoes. Obviously, this is applicable to all of us as human beings. We wage war in our flesh. We want to do what is right or good or even good for us, yet our flesh is unwilling and battles against all that is good. I concur with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

Those two verses really sum up how I feel. I want to pray. I want to do what is good. I want to be healthier. I want to eat better. I want to exercise more. I want to be the best wife I can. I want to be the best mom and grandma I can. I want to be the best Christian I can! BUT, I regularly, miserably fail. That leads us to Chapter 8.

I find, what really gets me derailed from successfully having self-control, and being disciplined is the condemnation I feel when I don’t succeed. I messed up, oh well, guess I’ll just eat that bag of chips. It’s too hard to pray, so I guess I won’t even try. Where does that lead? You got it, down a trail of guilt. Guilt often spirals out of control until we no longer even want to do the things that are right or good.

However, that guilt is not coming from our Lord. Verse 1 of chapter 8 makes that clear. It says there is NO condemnation. Yes, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit when we sin. That voice does not condemn, it reminds and renews. The condemning voice of the enemy discourages and limits. Remember that. Jesus will remind us of what is right and He will give us hope. The enemy will never give us hope. He will always leave us feeling that we lack, and that is precisely why we fail.

We think that we are in this alone. We think that it is in our strength that we are supposed to do all those things that require discipline and self-control, but self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, not something we conjure up out of our own abilities. We fail, because we do not go to Him for the strength and ability to do the things He wants us to do.

Image by walkersalmanac from Pixabay

Image by walkersalmanac from Pixabay

We will dig deeper into Romans 8 next week, but until then, memorize Romans 8:1 and use it like a sword, every time the enemy make you feel hopeless, lacking and like a failure, because if you are in Jesus you are not condemned.