I’ve never had to walk through a desert in search of water. I’ve never felt the fear of knowing I would die from lack of water. I’ve never experienced the agony of watching my children struggle as a result of drinking contaminated water. I’ve never had my days, my life, consumed with the need to find water. When I think of water it’s usually to ask myself have I had my 8 glasses for the day?
The latest published information on basic water services came out in 2019 from a report by WHO and UNICEF that shows in 2017, more than 884 million people around the world did not have safe water to drink. Let that sink in.
When Jesus sat down on the edge of Jacob’s well and looked into its inky depths He felt thirsty. He’d set out in the early morning headed from Judea to Galilee and had chosen to swing through Samaria. Not the most direct route—but a most necessary one—for He had a divine appointment at Jacob’s well.
We all know the story. A woman approaches the well with a bucket and Jesus asks her for a drink of water. She’s startled by the request, and in her surprise she responds with the question, “Why would a Jewish man ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water?” Jesus’ answer changed the course of her life.
He replied, “If you only knew who I am and the gift that God wants to give you, you’d ask me for a drink, and I would give you living water” (John 4:10, TPT).
She looks to see if He has a bucket tucked away somewhere and thinks, He wants to give me a drink? Something doesn’t add up. “If you only knew who I am. . .” the words hang in the air like the promise of rain.
If you only knew who I am. . . They haunt me, these simple words.
As I approach life with my little bucket and dip it into the depths of my well, I keep hoping it will be enough for all my needs. And it’s never enough but I keep doing it over and over again—day after day. Jesus has asked me for water and there’s a whole world thirsting for it, too. I need to get better at drawing water or I’ll never get it all done. I really want to hear Him say to me one day, “I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.”
If you only knew. . .
how much I love you,
how I long to abide within you—and be the spring of living water gushing forth from you to a thirsty world,
how I long to be loved by you.
If you only knew. . . .
that I am the Gift the Father has for you,
and that you are mine,
and in Me—you have all you need!
Keep looking up! Jesus is coming!
Pastor Karen.