Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Spiritual Water" for Sunday, 13 July 2014 - Read John 4:1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.4-6 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7-8 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.”
11-12 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?”
13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!”
25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.”
26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.
28-30 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” And they went out to see for themselves.
Jesus answered, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.”(John 4:14 (NIV))
On a Saturday night I drove to a nearby bakery, thinking a piece of French silk pie would soften my deep loneliness. When the waitress said, “We’re fresh out,” I left with my emotions out of control. Back at my apartment, I realized I had tried to supply a spiritual need with a physical solution. Although I had chosen my ways over God’s ways for too long, I cried out to God that night. I was amazed at how quickly I felt God’s presence, peace, and love. I suddenly identified with the woman in John 4. John didn’t give her a name, just “a Samaritan woman.” When Jesus spoke to her about living water, she said to him, “Give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here” (John 4:15). At first she didn’t understand that Jesus spoke of spiritual water, but the longer Jesus talked, the more convinced she was that he was the Messiah. Leaving her water jar, she ran to tell the people in Sychar about a man who knew all about her. In a similar way, God’s peace that Saturday night inspired me to return to a community of faithful people. I went back to church and began reading my Bible. I found the courage I needed to share with others how God had comforted me.
The Author: Sue Tornai (California, USA)
Thought for the Day: Pie is good, but God is better.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us and changing us into who you want us to be. Amen.
Prayer focus: Lonely people
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