Read: John 4:1-25
Jesus'
conversation with the Samaritan woman is another example of His insight into
the human heart (John 2:25). The dialogue begins with Jesus' request for a
drink from the well but quickly turns to the woman's spiritually dehydrated
condition. We see the depth of Jesus' knowledge of this lady's life when He
reveals that she has been married five times and is currently living with a man
who is not her husband. Shocked and embarrassed, the woman tries to change the
subject, but Jesus will not be distracted. He knows this woman is dying of
thirst and is determined to give her Living Water.
Jesus'
statement about this woman's broken lifestyle does not come across as
accusatory or judgmental but as simple declaration of fact. Rather than
pointing to the source of this woman's thirst, Jesus was pointing to evidence
that she was thirsty. It wasn't because she had been with six men that she was
thirsty, it was because she was so desperately thirsty that she continually
sought to satisfy her thirst with men. She was not spiritually dehydrated
because she had trouble with men; she had trouble with men because she was
spiritually dehydrated. Jesus understands that sinful behavior is not the
problem, but a symptom. J.I. Packer says, "We are not sinners because we
sin; we sin because we are sinners." Jesus was not interested in treating
the symptoms of her thirst, but in giving her the only thing that would finally
quench her thirst: Himself.
What
are the symptoms of your spiritual thirst? Do you eat to find a satisfaction no
meal can provide? Do you drink or take pills to medicate a pain that will never
leave? Are you seeking intimacy through sexual activities that only leave you
feeling used and alone? Do you work harder and harder to get more and more and
yet find there is never quite enough? These issues, as serious as they are, are
not the source of your problem; they are symptoms of your thirst. Invite Jesus
to quench it. He is the only one who can.
Living Water,
I am thirsty. I confess to You that I am trying to quench my thirst with things that do not satisfy. Please forgive me. I ask You to quench my thirst with Your living water.
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