We all thirst for God, whether we know it or not. The Samaritan woman at the well is a story that intrigues me. I can relate to her loneliness, her defensiveness about some of the poor choices she made, her avoidance of others.
She was less than open to Jesus when He talked to her. She even tried to change the subject, but He redirected her attention to the “gift of God,” to the “living water” she longed for. Perhaps she purposely misunderstood what He was saying. The truth is often hard to face. But who can avoid it when God Himself tells you He’s talking to you, offering Himself to you?
I know this moment. Do you?
All her defenses crumbled when Jesus told her He was the Messiah. The vulnerability of her sin suddenly broke upon her. She was moved deeply that God was actively pursuing her. She believed. The change caused her to focus on Jesus rather than herself. She became an immediate witness for Jesus.
God’s Patient Pursuit of My Soul poured out of me because of a similar transforming incident that caused me to want to witness to Jesus, too. I couldn’t help myself. Still c
an’t. The living water presses like a fountain upward from within me. She must have felt something similar, for she no longer hid her shame but ran to tell everyone she could that this man Jesus knew all about her. Through this many came to believe.
Water ripples converge into one another like our thirst converges into God
How often we choose to argue the fine points of doctrine rather than surrender ourselves to Christ and love others as He did. That’s a tall order. To love like that. Like the Samaritan woman, we try to change the subject. We perhaps purposefully think we are not capable of loving like Christ did, so why even try? We thirst and yet avoid the very source that will quench our thirst: Jesus.
We don’t let Him in. We hold Him at a distance thinking it must be a mirage. He can’t really be pursuing me. I’m nothing. I’m nobody. I’m a lost cause. And until I let him in–until you let Him in–I cannot love like He does.
Oh, the joy of love when we do let down our defenses. Jesus gives us unconditional love and acceptance. It’s hard to believe, I know. He’s pursuing you. You feel it. You push it away. And then He shows up again (He never really left) and offers you a sip of water for your thirst.
The Bible is full of stories like ours. Whatever you’re thirsting for, wherever you’re seeking, can be found in Christ. It’s a terrible thing to thirst. Jesus knows this well. “I thirst,” he said from the cross. He thirsts for you and me. Will you quench His thirst today?
Read the story of my thirst for a relationship to assuage my loneliness–or what I thought was loneliness–how God pursued me throughout my life and when I chose to surrender. Click here. I hope it will encourage you.