Diving Into Living Waters

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” 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? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.” John 4:7-15

I remember the first time I saw “living water.” In 2015, I went with the Pine Cove Forge on a trip to Israel, and one of our first stops was Ein Gedi. There we saw a beautiful waterfall that was powerful and full of life. Our trip leader, Matt, pointed out the contrast between living water like what we saw before us and the stagnant water of the ancient world. If you drank water that wasn’t “living” you could be exposed to all the icky, gross, potentially disease-filled dangers of stagnant water. Living water wasn’t just a luxury—it was a vital part of an abundant life. Then Matt said, “JUMP IN!” We were so sweaty and exhausted from the hike it took to get to that waterfall, the cold water left us SO refreshed. Yes, we got to jump in a living water waterfall and feel the relief it can bring to hot, tired, and parched travelers. I never saw water the same way again!

Here’s the thing: I LOVE water. Something about being home all the time during the pandemic and lockdown made me really get into the habit of drinking a lot of water. What’s a lot? Well, I’d like to introduce you to my Bubba cup. It holds about 40 ounces and I started drinking three of them a day. That’s 120 ounces a day, and I loved it. Of course, on hot days being hydrated is such a great thing. It helps your body function better! But there was a point during all my water drinking that I thought, “What if I cared as much about being spiritually hydrated as I do being physically hydrated?” What if I kept my spiritual cup full and just kept going back for more every day, taking sips from Scripture and drinking from the overflowing fountain of God’s grace?

I’ll be honest: I’m not about to tell you a five-step plan of how that’s done, because I still struggle to slow down and acknowledge the Lord! But one thing I have started practicing: whenever I get up to refill my water bottle, I take a moment to acknowledge the Lord in some way as well. It’s a simple and sweet way to stay connected to Him while practicing a habit I already enjoy. I love it because Jesus is the only thing that satisfies. There’s no goal achieved or healthy habit that can replace the satisfaction in knowing Christ and His eternal hope. Everything else will just leave us wanting more. 

So stay spiritually hydrated! Read, rest, pray, and fellowship—and do it often, even if you feel as dehydrated and shriveled as the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well. Her spiritual dehydration didn’t keep Jesus from seeking her out and offering her a chance to be restored. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.”

No matter what state you’re in spiritually (engaging with God or feeling totally empty), know that the best thing to do is give your soul the only thing that will satisfy its thirst: living water! Christ Himself.