Living Water Part 1

Ok, so you know those church words or phrases, that you’ve heard your whole life? You know, the ones, if you’re like me, you could probably use in sentences, or maybe even quote the scriptures references, maybe even use in a teaching, but in all honesty, you have no idea what it really means?

Living Water.

Yep, like that one. Great example.

“Sounds great! Refreshing, even. Sure I’ll take some. Can I get an ‘Amen’?”

Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:

“‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’” (Verses 10-15)

Then in John 7 He said it again to a bigger group this time:

”On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, ‘out of his heart will flow the rivers of living water.’ Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Verse 37-39)

I was listening to another BEMA episode the other day (life changing you guys) and he (Marty Solomon) said that:

“Living water, according to the Jewish thought, had to be water that got there from God. It had to come by God’s power. Living water comes from God. That means it can come in two forms. Coming out of the ground or rain that’s falling. Those would be the two forms of water that come from God. Those are two forms of ‘Mayim chayim’ (Living Water in Hebrew). If you put it in a cistern, it’s no longer living water. Because it got there on your account. If you put it in a bucket, it’s no longer living water, because now that water got there on your strength. ‘Mayim chayim’ has to come from God, which means it has to come either from the earth or from the sky.”

Questions began to run through my mind.

Am I trying to collect living water in a cistern, so I can save it and drink from it later? Am I trying to collect it in a bucket so I can pour it out and give it to others when they come to me? Am I trying to drink it from someone else’s bucket? Or am I, fully surrendered, fully dependent, daily, coming before the Lord and asking Him for it?

“Go and call your husband.” This was the response Jesus gave the Samaritan woman when she asked Him to give her this water. Strange response. He just said if she asked Him for it He would give it to her. If I’m reading this at face value, I would think Jesus is dangling a carrot in front of her face and telling her she can only have it if her husband is present. But no, Jesus is better than that.

“The woman answered Him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands , and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’” (Verses 16-18)

Ok, hold up. What does this have to do with living water? Does anyone out there read this story and just think there are a lot of pieces missing?

A few years ago, my sister and I did a Bible study called “Jesus and Women” by Kristi McLelland. (Highly, HIGHLY recommend this!) She talked about this story differently than I had ever heard and filled in some of those missing pieces. Now, for time sake, there is no way I could give you everything she said about this story, but I’m going to highlight something.

“He named her shame, not her sin.” Women had no rights then. They weren’t allowed to divorce men.

”If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house.” -Deuteronomy 24:1

Kristi said the debate of that day was about what was considered “indecent”. Some men divorced women because they couldn’t cook or because they couldn’t have children. I know that’s one extreme to another. Either way, this woman didn’t divorce five men. She had been divorced five times. She had been rejected by five men and this sixth man wouldn’t even marry her. Now, for what reason? We don’t know. But can you imagine, being the woman who had been rejected by five husbands. The shame.

I don’t think Jesus was with-holding the living water from her in this moment. I think this was His way of giving it to her.

The voice of shame whispers that we must hide, that we must cover ourselves, that we must find our own way. Shame averts our eyes to our lack, our failures and shortcomings, that one time I raised my voice when I shouldn’t have, or …. Fill in the blank. And it’s even deeper than that. Shame holds the “I’m a sinner” banner loud and proud, calling it humility—never allowing the finished work of the cross to be enough. Shame keeps us thirsty, never satisfied. Shame keeps us feeling like we need to hoard water—“grab that bucket and collect the rain because He may not give it to us tomorrow. Or we may not have time for it. We gotta store up.”Shame dilutes trust.

In this moment, with this woman, naming her shame, gave Jesus the opportunity to sit with her in it and cleanse her from it with the revealing of Himself.

The Spirit of God, this Living Water, chants life abundant! It declares “Chosen and adopted”! It gives freedom and hope! The Living Water promotes joy and healing! It calls us “Son” and “Daughter”. It refreshes us and brings us into the Light! We don’t have to store up! We can trust and believe that there is enough! That He is enough! That He’s got us and there will be more tomorrow! There is no end! He will never run out!

And then just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, it moves through us to others! Like a rain cloud that soaks everyone!

So more questions…. How do I know that I’m not trying to store up the living water in a cistern? How do I know I’m not trying to collect it in a bucket? How do I know I’m not pouring out of a bucket to others or drinking from someone else’s bucket?

I think the answers are found in more questions.

Am I allowing Jesus to name my shame, meet me in it and heal me from it? Am I going to Him with my thirst or am I looking to be satisfied somewhere else? Am I daily sitting with Him and letting His Spirit to overflow within me? Am I leading others to myself or to Him? Are the voices I’m listening to leading me to Jesus or are they leading me to that person? Is shame diluting my trust in Jesus?

So your encouragement for this week:

Ask yourself these questions and give yourself the gift of honest answers. Then come back next week for Part 2!