When you feel thirsty, what is it that you reach for first?

Maybe you go for your favorite juice or carbonated drink, a sports drink, or just water. Usually, it’s whatever you believe will quench your thirst in the moment, or whatever you think will meet the need and fully satisfy.

What if it’s your spirit that’s depleted and dry – a soul thirst? What can satisfy that?

This week’s scripture from the Gospel of John in Chapter 4 unfolds the interaction between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria – maybe you’ve heard of her as “the woman at the well”. If you’ve read this before (or even if you have not), as you read, imagine you’re witnessing this interaction, or even, that you are the woman He is speaking to.

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from 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 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.) 10 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.” 11 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.” 13 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.” 15 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.”

16 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.” 19 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.” 21 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.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” – JOHN 4:1-29

Often we don’t comprehend how fully Jesus knows us, and knows our every need. We forget that He does not look at us with shame or disgust, but instead with love and grace. We remain captive instead of walking in the freedom He won for us – He IS the Christ, and the power of Christ lives in us. He is there, offering to us, waiting and ready to pour out and fill our lives to overflowing – but we have to receive it and we have to drink. Only then, in relationship with Jesus, can we be filled by the living water that will truly satisfy what our souls thirst for – nothing we reach for this side of heaven will do that for us.

This week, think about these things as you reflect on this scripture:

1. Where is the “well” in your life right now – where do you meet with Jesus? If you don’t have a time or place you regularly connect in relationship with Him, what can you change or reprioritize to make that happen?

2. Scripture, prayer, worship, fellowship – are these present in your life? Where do you encounter them right now – are these in your life daily or occasionally? Consider the people and places you need to add or remove from your life that would allow you to encounter these basics of your relationship with Jesus in a regular rhythm.

Connect with more information about the Love For All Weekly Devotion and additional resources at SPLDECATUR.ORG/LOVEFORALL and SHARE your thoughts, questions, and prayers with us HERE.