Come To The Well

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."   The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." ~ John 4:13-15


I was listening to K-Love on the way home from an errand recently, and once again, something one of the radio personalities said really hit home for me. 


He spoke of how at times, we as followers of Christ can go through 'dry seasons.'  I quickly reached over to turn up the volume on my car radio to be sure I could hear every word this man said, because right now, I feel as if I've entered into a dry season.  Just that very morning, before I left my house, I stopped what I was doing and whispered out loud,


"God, where ARE You?  Please tell me, please....talk to me!"


I heard nothing.  I received no response.


I actually wanted to cry, but I couldn't.  And I just felt so -- empty.

The man went on to say that at times, we may find ourselves feeling alone and empty, and even wondering where the Lord is because we can no longer hear His voice. 


Umm....having just said and felt that less than an hour before, that REALLY caught my attention. What was going on here?


He continued by saying that this is because very often, we find ourselves stopping at wells we have no business visiting. Wells whose water has long since dried up. 


We come thirsty.  And we leave thirsty.  Every time.


Much like the Samaritan woman -- the Woman at the Well.

Woman At The Well, by C. Michael Dudash

One of my most favorite Bible stories/characters is the woman at the well.  She is one of several  'Bad Girls of the Bible' to whom I can relate quite well, having been a former 'bad girl' myself for many years. 

Jesus is heading back to Galilee and, exhausted from the trip, sits down to rest at a well in Sychar, a village in Samaria, while His disciples go into town to buy some food.  A Samaritan woman comes alone to the well to draw water.  According to various books and articles I've read, groups of women would take their empty jars and come to the village well early in the morning, when the heat was not as intense as it was at the noon hour.  But according to Scripture, this woman comes at noon.  

And she comes alone. 

Perhaps to avoid the dirty looks and mean-spirited whispers from the other women, because as we learn later, the Samaritan woman at the well is no sterling character.  She already has five husbands under her belt and is currently working on number six. Or maybe not.  Maybe by now she's thrown the hopes for love and commitment to the four winds and is just content to hook up and hang out with the man.  

Yet I'm certain that something in her still longed for something more. Something meaningful. Something good and true and right and perfect in her life.  She is desperately thirsty.  Desperately dehydrated.


While the actual, physical well she frequents provides her with tangible water, figuratively she is going to wells that are empty; wells whose waters have long since dried up.

And that's what really gets to me, what hits me hardest.  I can relate to her search for something more and meaningful; something good and true and right and perfect.  I'm desperately thirsty, desperately dehydrated.


Because lately, I've been paying visits to wells that are empty, where the waters have longs since dried up. 

Last week, I wrote about the various challenges, trials and difficulties in my life that I've been dealing with lately, how the Lord wants me to view them as gifts from Him, in order for me to place all my dependence upon Him, and that I don't need to go it alone because He is always with me in the midst of it all.


Yet, while I KNOW all of this, applying it to my life is a different story indeed.  Getting that head knowledge to make its way down to my heart can be easier said than done for me. 


Jesus is an endless wellspring of Living Water, and He lets the woman at the well know as much.  And she responds by pleading, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never get thirsty nor have to come [continually all the way] here to draw." 


Jesus has let ME know as much, too.  Yet why have I ignored Him and instead, chosen to go to the dry and empty wells?Wells like coffee, chocolate and fast food/junk food -- things I run to for comfort and to fill my feelings of emptiness.

Wells like Facebook and yes, even this little blog of mine, which I've turned to again and again for validation, acknowledgment, reassurance and acceptance when I find I'm dry, panting and running on empty. 


I wish I had an answer.  But I don't.  Just a bucket full of lame excuses.


Currently, I've removed myself from Facebook and have also removed those comfort food and drink distractions from my life for awhile. And believe it or not, I really haven't missed them (esp. FB).  Yet, my Bible has lain unopened and unused for many days (it's SO much easier for me to hit up Bible Gateway online to look up various Scripture verses that I've recently used here).  I've moved it around from tableside to bedside, much like I used to do with the food on my plate as a kid, to make it appear that I'd eaten what was put in front of me.  My lame excuse has been,  "I'm just so busy and I'm just so exhausted at the end of the day!" It's so much easier for me to just grab a quick devotional on the run or to watch Dr. Charles Stanley or David Jeremiah on TV while I'm folding laundry.  


But really -- who am I kidding?


I've been so dry and parched in my soul, I feel like I may just crack into a million pieces and blow away.  I'm still so thirsty.  I'm spiritually deydrating. And I NEED water.  Living Water, which can only come from one Source.  The Word of God.


Very early this morning, I woke up to Jesus' still, small Voice beckoning me:


Come to Me, beloved.  Come and stand before Me.  You say you want to hear from Me -- then read My Word.


Let My Word nourish, hydrate, cleanse and refresh you.  Let My Living Water wash over you and bring you back to life.


Saturate yourself in My Word.  And I WILL speak to you, loud and clear, lovingly, tenderly, through each and every word you read.


Can I tell you how very quickly I jumped up, put the light on and grabbed for my Bible, which was lying next to me on the bed? I think I may have scared my poor dog out of a sound sleep.


I can (and have) surrounded myself with so many things -- not all good, not all bad.  But only one thing matters -- Jesus, my Wellspring of Living Water.  I can (and have) surrounded myself with and delved into so many different books by various Christian authors.

Yes, these are just SOME of the books you might come across should you pay a visit to my room.
Not to mention the ones sitting on the shelves in my living room, my basement and on my
front porch AND the two boxes and one tall kitchen bag overflowing with books in the back of
my car that I am attempting to give away to someone...anyone! Oh PSF....where art thou?!

But only one Author and one book REALLY matters -- Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith, and the Bible, the very Word of God. When I drink deeply from that Living Water; when I hydrate myself with God's Word,  I no longer need to visit those dry and empty wells, scrounging for water.  I'll never be thirsty again.   Oh, my sweet Lord and Savior, help me to learn this lesson once and for all RIGHT NOW and to never, ever forget it!


Today, maybe you have found yourself in the midst of a very dry season.  Perhaps you've been visiting wells you have no business visiting.  Wells that are dry, barren, empty.  You are thirsty and dehydrating.   


I invite you to join me and come to the well.  Come see a Man who knows everything I -- and you -- have ever done, thought, said, felt.  And He loves us still.  Come accept the Living Water He offers to us, so we will NEVER be thirsty again.  Join me in allowing ourselves to become immersed and saturated by the Word of God.


Come -- be refreshed.


Come -- be renewed.


Come -- be made clean.


Come to the well.

I have what you need,
But you keep on searchin,
I've done all the work,
But you keep on workin',


When you're runnin on empty,
And you can't find the remedy,
Just come to the well.


You can spend your whole life,
Chasin' what's missing,
But that empty inside,
It just ain't gonna listen.


When nothing can satisfy,
And the world leaves you high and dry,
Just come to the well


And all who thirst will thirst no more,
And all who search will find what their souls long for,
The world will try, but it can never fill,
So leave it all behind, and come to the well. ~ The Well, by Casting Crowns