Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.

I'm sure we have all heard the story about the Samaritan woman at the well. If you haven't, this story deconstructs everything the "Law" stood for during that time. He was a rabbi, and according to the rabbinical law, rabbis were instructed to never talk to a woman in public, not even to their own wives or sisters. In fact, the rabbinical law said it is better to burn the law than to give it to a woman. In that culture, women were regarded as totally unable to understand complicated subjects like theology and religion. During this interaction, we see Jesus leap over the various barriers that separate him from the Samaritan woman. Jesus proceeds to offer the woman forgiveness and grace and tells her about the "Living Water" that He provides. Jesus says to her, “I am not talking about the water in the well. Drink that water, and you will thirst again. But I will give you living water, and the one who drinks of the water I give will never thirst.”

He did not, of course, mean that one could take one drink of living water and never again feel a thirst of the soul, any more than one could take one drink of any kind of physical, literal water and never feel thirsty again. What he means is what we have discovered in our own homes. How do we keep from thirsting? We have water piped in, available to us all the time, so that when we feel even a little thirsty, we take a drink of it. This is what Jesus means here. The water he would give would be available constantly so that when one was thirsty, one could drink immediately.

This is something we, as Christ followers, never seem to learn. We never realize that there is a place where our inner thirst, our sense of restlessness, and our desire for more than what we have can be met instantly. Jesus goes on to make it clear that it is going to be from within. The water I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. He means that the Spirit which He will impart is a life-giving Spirit, that as one drinks of that Spirit one experiences the quality of life which is called, in the Scriptures, eternal life. That means far more than everlasting life. It means a refreshing, invigorating, exciting life – a life that has the qualities of love, joy, and peace.

Take two minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Use the S.O.A.P. Method to study God’s Word.
• SCRIPTURE: What stands out to you in today’s passage?
• OBSERVATION: What is this text saying? What is the context? How does it fit with the verses before and after it? Are there any commands, instructions, or promises? 
• APPLICATION: How can you apply this verse to your life? What does this mean today? What is God saying to you? 
• PRAYER: Respond to the passage in prayer. Ask God to help you apply this truth to your life and spend some time listening to what He may be telling you.