Ephesians
singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord;”
The Music
of “LIFE” Series:
“Springs of Living Waters”
Penned by John W. Peterson, 1950
John 4:1-15
Verse 7 – “There cometh a woman of
Verse 10 – Jesus …said unto her, ‘If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who
it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him,
and He would have given thee living water.”
Verse 14 – Jesus…said… “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life.”
(Chorus)
“Drinking
at the springs of living water,
Happy now
am I, My soul they satisfy;
Drinking
at the springs of living water,
O wonderful
and bountiful supply.”
This living water, we know, speaks
of Eternal Life that springs forth, abounding and continually refreshing our
souls in our new life in Christ.
But what of the sinner? Can they possibly understand the concept
of ‘living water’?
Evidently this Samaritan woman did
not really know what Jesus was saying to her about ‘living water’. She only understood physical water; that
which she could drink with a
cup and satisfy her thirst. She
meets Jesus at a well and hears something totally foreign to her. Living water?! Did this living water mean she would never
have to come to this well again? That
would be wonderful…she thought. We see in verse 15 she asks Jesus for
this water, thinking that the water Jesus was offering her would satisfy her physical thirst.
She could only respond in this manner because this was her only experience;
this is where she was coming from. She
said the same words Jesus was saying, but the intents and meanings of each
of them was in complete opposition to each other: physical thirst versus spiritual
thirst. She didn’t understand.
The Samaritan woman’s experience is much the same as the words in
stanza 1 of this gospel song:
“I thirsted
in the barren land of sin and shame,
And nothing
satisfying there I found;
But to
the blessed cross of Christ one day I came,
Where springs
of living water did abound.”
-2-
Only Jesus has the Authority to give this gift of living water. The prerequisite for receiving living
water was that we believe as stated
in John 7:38.
And, the way to receive the living
water? Jesus declares
in John 7:37, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.”
The springs to satisfy our spiritual thirst
are available, but we must needs take the action.
The Samaritan woman is interested in Jesus’ offer of
living water…but, doesn’t yet understand that she must see her need
for this living water. Jesus
understood this…He is God, He is Omniscient and His Wisdom is perfect.
She was not to receive what God was offering her without
first understanding her need.
Many times we come to Jesus in
prayer and ask of Him, just seeking to receive something we ‘want’, but not
necessarily seeking Him. We,
who are believers, should know better than to do this, but sometimes our own
sinful flesh gets in the way.
This Samaritan woman, because she didn’t yet have this benefit of Eternal
Life, needed to see from Jesus’ perspective her need for this living water.
In the verses that follow: John
4:16-18, Jesus sets out to do this and asks
her questions. Questions that
bring her to full admittance that she is living in an adulterous relationship. She is a sinner. The Samaritans, as do the Jews,
believe in a coming Messiah; they believe in The Christ. The Samaritan woman expresses this in
verse 25:
“I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will
tell us all things.”
In verse 26 Jesus says this to her: “I that
speak unto thee am He.”
Think for a moment, this woman believed in a coming Messiah and I’d
imagine all the implications of that would mean for her when He did come. Yet, her lifestyle was not lived in preparation
for His coming nor in fear of His coming, but with a wanton self-interested
response. We who have God,
the Spirit in us have this same choice.
Knowing that Jesus will one day come as Judge, will we live in our
old nature and not in the newness of life?
We have God’s gift of Eternal Life and it is a ‘spring of living water’.
It is an ever abounding spring that never dries up…a spring that refreshes
and when we drink from His Well, our days will be filled with His grace and
blessing in our lives.
In verses 28 and 29 we see the Samaritan woman’s response to her encounter with Jesus.
“The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the
city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that
ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
She left what she had in her hand behind and went to declare or witness
to others of her encounter with Jesus.
Can you hear her now…excited, declaring God’s glory and spreading the
news of ‘living water’?
-3-
In the second and third stanzas of John Peterson’s Springs of Living Water he pens
these words:
“How sweet
the living water from the hills of God
It makes
me glad and happy all the way;
Now glory,
grace and blessing mark the path I’ve trod,
I’m shouting
“Hallelujah” every day.
O sinner,
won’t you come today, to Calvary,
A fountain
there is flowing deep and wide;
The Savior
now invites you to the water free,
Where thirsting
spirits can be satisfied.”
These words speak well of this passage in John 4 and of the new life response
of the Samaritan woman.
Do they speak well of our response to new life in our daily walk? Are we thirsty? Do we need refreshment to our souls?
Are we keeping our souls alive in Him and allowing His living water
to permeate every miniscule part of us, thereby having our lives blessed with
His grace in turn, glorifying our God?
Let us purpose to ‘drink’ daily at The Springs of Living Water!
Prepared by Mercedes S. Whelan
for