Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again.

Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever.

The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

John 4:14  Message Bible

When I lived in Montana, Mountain Brook flowed through my yard and my pasture year round. My daughters and their friends loved playing in that creek – trying to catch fish and float tubes down to the pond. The water rolled gently over the rocks and created a lullaby sound.  At least, most of the year.

During spring run off, water would speed up and the sound wasn’t as calming. At times, water would escape the culverts and flood the pasture. No matter how hot the summer, Mountain Brook never dried up. Snow wasn’t the only source of the creek as water was supplied by springs from somewhere higher up the mountain.

Even during the seasons of the lowest water levels, this creek supplied water, drinkable water, to whomever would thirst.

Although thirst was temporarily abated, the water from this creek could not totally satisfy anyone’s thirst.

Jesus offered a different water.  A water that would be available to us at all times, a water that would satisfy us, not just once, but always, all the time.

He did not, of course, mean that one could take one drink of living water and never again feel a thirst of 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 Americans 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.

I tend to struggle to implement this truth. I fail, at times, to realize there is a place where my inner thirst—my sense of restlessness, my desire for more than what I have—can be met instantly.

Jesus goes on to make 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, of course, 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 refreshing, invigorating, exciting life; life that has the qualities of love and joy and peace about it.  It is a beautiful picture: a well springing up to eternal life.”   Ray Stedman

Father God, thank you for providing the spring of water that imparts life to me.  Forgive me for the times I have looked to other sources, sources that leave me empty.  You alone can provide the healing waters that satisfy the deepest needs of my soul.  Thank you for the gift of Your Holy Spirit and eternal life.  In Jesus’s name, amen. 

I would love to hear from you.  Please let me know if I can be praying for you as well.