Still Thirsty
John 4: 4-26
I wonder how many people in this affluent life style have ever been truly thirsty.
I am sure that we all have experienced some level of thirst but I wonder if anyone has truly been dying of thirst.
We work out, do work in hot conditions, we spend time in the summer at the beach with the sun beating down. But just one cool drink and our body is back pretty much to normal. A certain product on the market today for the athlete even has three different level of body fluid replenishment. Part 1 prepares you for when you’re going to be thirsty. Part 2 replenishes while you thirsty. Then there’s a part 3 that continues to restore your body even when your finished becoming thirsty. Quenching of thirst has become a science and a multi billion dollar market. From the professional athlete to the week end warrior, all the way to the under 8 year old soccer player all feels the need to have these products for the overall health of their body functions. It’s incredible. Just a few years ago professional football players were sharing a single ladle in a bucket of water and now someone walks around squirting stuff to anyone who just standing and opens their mouth every stoppage of play. We’ve come a long way baby!
Even with all the products on the market there is still a critical need for water. Without sufficient amounts of fresh clean water this world would be in a crisis beyond any magnitude we have ever seen in the western world today. Eastern Africa is caught in a drought that has caused a famine and there is dying of thirst and hunger because of the lack of water. It is at epic proportions and most of the world outside these areas doesn’t have a clue. But ask these people about thirst believe me they would tell you stories that could just tear you up inside.
Besides a physical thirst, there is a spiritual thirst that the whole world suffers from. It affects both rich and poor alike. In most cases it affects the rich more than the poor.
It’s cause comes from and grows from inside the person much like physical thirst only from much deeper within a soul. A single drink will not satisfy for long when the soul is dying of thirst. It comes from the most basic of needs that a soul craves. Life must have purpose, a vision for why things are as they are and that in the scheme of things, we really do matter. Souls need to know that they really aren’t lost souls wandering through this world till one day it all just stops. Souls need to know it is loved and it needs to love to eliminate that constant thirsty feeling.
In today’s scripture we see Jesus at the well turning the attention from physical thirst to spiritual thirst. He is speaking to a woman that has been searching for something that has a lasting satisfaction down deep in her soul, which all her attempts in life have been unable to quench. Jesus knew what she needed before she even realized it. Jesus went right to the root of the problem. It was spiritual not physical. Even in a dry thirsty land where everyone had experienced real physical thirst there is a greater need that surpasses all physical needs and that is a spiritual thirst that needs to be satisfied. He not only tells her that he has what she has been searching for but that He is able to place constant supply of refreshment and satisfaction and peace within her soul that she will never refilling from any other outside source for all eternity long. It didn’t take long for her to decide she immediately says “Sir, give me this water”. Yet she still is not at the level at which Jesus is speaking. She just never wants to be physically thirsty again.
He continue to drill down on her by revealing who it is that is in front of her offering eternal soul satisfaction. He tells her that he knows her and her past. He reveals that he is well aware of her attempts to satisfy herself through relationships outside of marriage. This has now got attention but he now can get to spiritual matters of her soul. Of all the people in the world he chooses to reveal that He is the long awaited Messiah. A woman with a morality problem gets the privilege to get the secret of life. The scripture shows that in showing her He makes the same privilege to all who truly thirst.
Many Christian today have the knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, the one and only savior from spiritual thirst, the empty restless heart syndrome that infects all of mankind, but still experience spiritual thirst in their lives. They have the knowledge but the soul remains empty and wanting. They have been living unaware that the spring of never ending soul quenching spiritual water is available and placed inside each one of them.
In order for physical thirst to be quenched one must drink from the source. We must also drink deeply from the spiritual spring God himself promised to give those who turn to him for refreshment, restoration, and, redemption of their soul. For those who today are truly thirsty hear this. You do not have because you have not asked. Those who have asked and are still thirsty are not drinking deeply from the well spring given to you which is Christ himself, His spirit living in you. You know and have received him but do not have a relationship with Him. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. He promised and He is faithful He will never leave you or forsake you. Your spring of spiritual satisfaction will never run dry.
