Wells of Living Water

    I want us to look at the "well of living water" that is mentioned in John 4. We have here the story where Jesus met the woman at the well. He asks her for a drink and this begins a discussion about water and about her need. He tells her of her past thereby revealing that she has a need that she is trying to get met. She then speaks to Him of the tradition of generations of coming to this very well to worship the God of Abraham. This leads the discussion to the subject of worship, and Jesus tells her that true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and that the Father is seeking such worshipers as this. After Jesus reveals to her that He is the Messiah they have been waiting for, the woman goes away and starts telling other people about Him. Because of her faith and faithfulness to tell, many others come to the Savior.

    One thing we see in this story is that true worship (worshiping in Spirit and in truth) and the living water go hand in hand. Jesus told her, "...whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty anymore. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life" John 4:14 (Amplified Bible).

    Abraham dug wells when there was famine, and Isaac re-dug his father's wells and cleaned them out where the enemy had filled them up many years later when famine returned in his time (Genesis 26). Throughout Scripture, as well as other history, there have been people who could not take the dry conditions any longer so they dug their own wells. Spiritually speaking, many have not settled for the shallowness of the religion of their day, and like Abraham and Isaac, they set about digging their own wells and springs. Perhaps we too should pray for that kind of hunger instead of sitting around waiting for God to pour out the rain that we so desire. Perhaps we should get busy digging our own wells. Maybe God is waiting for us to do that

    Let us find the spring of water in another passage. In the Song of Solomon we see in Chapter 4, verse 12, where the bridegroom (representing Christ) says to the bride (representing the church), "A garden enclosed and barred is my sister, my [promised] bride - a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Then in verse 15, he says, "You are a fountain [springing up] in a garden, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon." Do you get the picture? If we belong to Christ, the "spring" is already there, down in our heart of hearts. We must get down in there and confess and remove the clutter and dirt with which the enemy has clogged the spring so that it can "become a spring of water welling up (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within (us) unto (into, for) eternal life" once again.

    "Father, like the flowers of springtime, we lift our thirsty heads to You. Like the little baby birds so eagerly lift their little hungry open beaks to their parents as they work diligently to find the food for their young as fast as the little guys can eat it, make us hungry so that we will seek You with our whole hearts, thereby putting ourselves in a position to find the "well."

    "Lord, we confess that we have allowed the things of this world to clog our once productive and life-giving wells. We have substituted the trinkets of the visible world for the immeasurably more valuable jewels of the unseen world and of your kingdom. Put a hunger in us oh Lord, that can only be satisfied with You.

    "As the deer pants for the water brooks, oh God, make us so thirsty for this living water of Your Holy Spirit that we will seek until we find, ask until we have, and knock until it is opened to us. Give us the tools to dig and teach us to use the tools until the springs break forth and cover the dry, cracked land around us with healing, thirst quenching, life-giving water. For the blessed living water we cry, oh God. Do it we pray, in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen."

Copyright Daphne Harrington 2000