In the next few weeks, I continued my conversation with God about Jesus being my husband.

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2 Soul Thirst Drawing from the Well of Everlasting Satisfaction I recently started a gathering in my home called First Wednesday in the Word a time and place once a month for women in community to take some time for themselves to fellowship, enjoy coffee and a treat and feast their souls on a quick, relevant, applicable teaching from God s word. I promised the ladies I would blog my message, so here it is. It is quite a bit longer than a normal post, so I have broken it down into five consecutive blog posts. If you would like the entire message in one place, just sign up with your in the top right sidebar and you will receive a printable, sharable copy of Soul Thirst: Drawing from the Well of Everlasting Satisfaction. In one of my more animated rants, I sat across from my mentor Doris explaining my frustration with my husband James with as much drama as I could muster. I really wanted her to get the extent of my frustration! When I finished, I sat back in my chair and looked Doris directly in the eye. Remaining completely neutral, she calmly and lovingly asked: Shauna, who is your real husband? I felt like a first grader in Sunday School. I knew the answer was Jesus! And I knew that was not what I was living, so I timidly answered: Jesus? After praying together that I would know and see Jesus as my perfect husband, I left knowing God would show me and teach me. In the next few weeks, I continued my conversation with God about Jesus being my husband. What exactly does that mean and what would that look like? Then one morning, I listed in my journal every single expectation I had of James that he was not meeting. It was like forty eight items long!!! And they were all emotional and spiritual. No wonder I was frustrated and discontent! No human could do for another human what I was expecting James to do for me. It was ridiculous! As I stared at the reality of what my list was telling me, the Lord spoke these words to my heart: Shauna, I am all of those things and more. Draw from Me and pour out to James. As long as I tried to pull from James a soul satisfaction no human can possibly give another human, I propelled us into a vicious cycle of me feeling empty and frustrated, coming back for more, leaving empty and frustrated and coming back for more. You get the picture, right? 1

3 In scripture, God calls the church the bride of Christ. He is our perfect husband! He is the One from whom we can draw for every soul need we have! When we do, we will be eternally satisfied. And we can draw from Him for the satisfaction of any immediate spiritual or soul need we need satisfied. HE is the source of satisfaction. When I draw from Jesus as my perfect husband, Jesus fills and enables me to pour out to James from HIS eternal reservoir! I m quite certain James is relieved to be off the hook for my unrealistic demands! Why Am I Never Satisfied? Perhaps you, like me, have something you turn to in this world for the soul satisfaction only Jesus can deliver. By a soul need, I mean things like assurance, peace, security, significance, purpose, perfect love, perfect acceptance, perfect dependability, perfect trustworthiness, eternal presence, deep, abiding joy, unshakable hope, steady mercy, steady grace, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, discernment and so on. Every one of us has an eternal soul need for salvation that is met once and for all in Christ when God saves us and gives us everlasting life, but then we have ongoing soul needs for survival! Many times, we seek happiness instead of a satisfied soul and we hinge our happiness on people, circumstances, things and experiences that can produce a temporary high or sense of happiness and well being, but it is fleeting. It does not last. The need remains or returns because the soul needs I am talking about cannot be met with the things of our natural world. The source of satisfaction is spiritual! Some of us, like me, want our husbands to make us happy. And it works for a time some of the time. Some of us want our kids or grandkids to make us happy. And it works for a time some of the time. Some of us want our careers to make us happy. And it works for a time some of the time. Others hope to find happiness in pleasure, travel, shopping, circumstances, experiences, food, substances, status, position, possessions, pleasure, parties, living in the right places, traveling to the right destinations, running in the right circles. And it works for a time some of the time. I personally have looked to every single one of these things (except for grandkids I do not have any of those yet) to satisfy a soul need at one time or another in my life! And listen, many of these things are not bad or wrong in and of themselves! But they cannot satisfy our thirst for eternal satisfaction that only comes through Jesus Christ. So how do we know when we are turning to someone or something that gives only temporary satisfaction when the real need is for eternal, spiritual satisfaction for the soul? 2

4 Here is a question we can ask ourselves: Is the desire satisfied or does our thirst for what we are seeking remain or return? When we attempt to satisfy a spiritual soul need for Jesus with someone or something of this world we will end up thirsty and back at the well attempting to draw living water from something or someone that does not have it to give! It is exactly what I was doing with James, and it is one of the over arching life truths conveyed in Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob s well in John 4 when He takes an exact route to an exact place at the exact time He knows He will encounter a Samaritan woman who has come to the well to draw the water she thinks she needs from the well she thinks will satisfy her need. We are going to walk alongside Jesus in verses one through twenty six to observe and learn from Him. We are going to glean more than head knowledge from words on a page, though; we are going to ingest truth into our hearts. We are going to get to know Jesus, who He is, what He does for us and what He longs to do in our hearts. We are going to put ourselves in the sandals of the woman He encounters at that well. And we are going to see Jesus act in a way that is unconventional, countercultural and counter religious as He uses her physical need to expose her spiritual need while revealing Himself as the eternal source of what she really needs! If we only remember one thing from this message, let it be this: Jesus Is Exact Jesus is exact! Jesus meets us at our exact point of need to reveal Himself as exactly what we need! Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria (John 4:1 4). Jesus is going from Judea to Galilee. He can choose from three different routes, but the one through Samaria is the most direct. On the face, it is perfectly reasonable that He take the most direct route, right? What is the big deal? The big deal is the fact that it is Samaria, a place where pure Jews and Assyrians intermingled and intermarried into a mixed race, a big no no for Jews. Samaritans were considered unclean to Jews, and neither wanted anything to do with the other. Because of its history, Samaria was a place of deepseated historical, racial and religious tension, and this is where Jesus chooses to go. He ventures into controversial, unclean and undesirable territory. 3

5 I find it interesting, too, that Samaria is the place where God first appeared to Abraham after entering Canaan. It was a city of refuge under God s law. It is located between Mount Ebal, the mount of cursing and Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessing. And it was in this exact place that Joshua read the blessings and curses of the Mosaic law and spoke some of the most familiar words in scripture: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). So this place where Jesus goes is at once a place of arrival and calling, a place of division and decision, and a place of controversy and refuge. It is the exact place Jesus will often meet us. Jesus does not need to go through Samaria only because it is the quickest, most direct route; it is also the route that will put Him at an exact place at an exact time to encounter the woman at the well. It is the exact route Jesus takes to Jacob s well. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food (John 4:5 8). At this time, Jacob s well would have been a main source of water and a gathering place for women, shepherds and travelers. It was deep and established by her patriarch father Jacob, who drank from the well himself he, his sons and his livestock (verses 11 12). Jesus rests at this exact place at an exact time: the sixth hour. Most likely this means noon, because as far as we can see, the Samaritan woman is alone and not with a gathering of women, which would have been common in the cooler evening hours. We also see that Jesus is alone. It is not crowded at the well. What about our well? Is there a crowd at the well we draw from to satisfy our souls? Is it crowded because everyone else is doing the same thing? Is it common? Accepted? Maybe even expected? As He does with this woman, Jesus might come to us at an exact time to get us alone at the exact place we come to satisfy our needs. Jesus is exact! Jesus meets us at our exact point of need to reveal Himself as exactly what we need! So He rests at the well and says to the woman: Give me a drink. This must have caught her completely off guard! 4

6 This Jesus He is completely unconventional! He does what people just do not do! Men of this day did not talk to women. John MacArthur in his MacArthur Study Bible Notes (ESV) explains the situation this way: For a Jewish man to talk to a woman in public let alone to ask from her, a Samaritan, a drink was a definite breach of rigid social custom as well as a marked departure from the social animosity that existed between the two groups. Further, a rabbi and religious leader did not hold conversations with women of ill repute. There are all kinds of reasons Jesus shouldn t be anywhere near this woman much less engaging her in conversation or implying He would drink from her unclean waterpot! Yet, it is exactly where He is! Many times, this passage is used to stress the importance that we be like Jesus, willing to go where it is unacceptable to go and willing to talk with people whose beliefs are unacceptable to us or people who are living unacceptable lifestyles. And we should! As followers of Christ, we should do as Christ did! But what I want us to see today is that WE ARE the woman at the well and Jesus will do for us what He does for her! He will do what is countercultural and will work in ways that are unacceptable according to society s defined rules because Jesus is not bound by culture s rules. He is countercultural! And He is counter religious too! He challenges man s religious rules. Historically, Samaritans withdrew from worship at Jerusalem and worshiped at Mount Gerizim instead, and they only considered the first five books of the Bible to be authoritative. This is one of the reasons Jews did not intermingle with Samaritans. And yet, Jesus takes an exact route to an exact place at an exact time to encounter the Samaritan woman and defy her traditions and ways of thinking racial, societal, cultural and religious. When He does the same with us, will we react as she does? What will we say? How will we react? How Me? Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:9 10). When Jesus says to her: Give me a drink in verse eight, her response in verse nine reveals her bewilderment and maybe even bitterness: How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? Because the hatred between Jews and Samaritans went both ways, she would have seen Jesus as seeing her as undesirable and a direct encounter with her as repulsive. She would have expected animosity, and it would have been her attitude toward Him. 5

7 Do we sometimes think this is how Jesus sees us? We cannot imagine He would seek us, come to us, personally engage us in conversation and give us exactly what we need? There was a time when that is exactly where I was. I saw myself as undesirable, unwanted and beyond the bounds of the forgiveness Jesus offered. I was miserable! And how I saw myself was rooted in the fact that I could not, would not and/or did not believe Jesus could forgive someone as hopelessly gone as me! I wonder if this is how the Samaritan woman saw herself? That does not stop Jesus, though, and it will not stop Him from encountering us at our place and time of need. And do not miss this: the woman is not seeking or looking for Jesus; He seeks her. He orders everything EXACT so He will encounter her! Jesus is exact! Jesus meets us at our exact point of need to reveal Himself as exactly what we need! Jesus might not be sitting before us in the physical sense the woman at the well encountered Him, but He is showing Himself to us and talking to us nonetheless. Maybe we are hearing His voice as we sense in our knower His presence and His voice; maybe we are answering Him the same way she does, because we do not think we are worthy and maybe we do not believe in Him at all. Maybe we are bitter toward Him. But He is there, meeting us where He knows He will find us so He can reveal Himself to us! That brings us to verse ten: Jesus answer to her. It is His answer to us, too: If you knew the gift of God AND who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (all caps mine). When we encounter Jesus, we might not know right away it is Him or it is His voice. We might think He is talking to us about something completely different than what He is actually saying. Yet if we know Jesus is the gift of God He does not only have the gift of what we need, He IS the gift; if we knew who was talking to us, would we ask a different question? Would we ask for the living water He offers? Instead of saying, How is it that you ask me a Jesus, please give me living water!!!!?? Would we ask: Dear Could it be we are at our own version of Jacob s well and do not even know our thirst is not physical? I love this conversation Jesus has with her where He answers her questions to bring her to a place of understanding and belief! He is leading her and opening her eyes. And He will do the same with us and our loved ones! 6

8 Jesus Shakes It Up The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" (John 4:11 12). She still only sees the physical: her physical need for water, what is required in the physical to draw it and the fact Jesus does not have it! Where does He get this living water? What s He talking about? Where is this water source and how does He get it? What He is saying that He is not saying is this is the well of your fathers. It is the well of tradition and heritage, even religion. But even as deep as it is, it is not the source of living water. He is challenging all she has ever known, and she does not understand. This is where Jesus will shake up our religious habits in order to reveal Himself. He is about to show her salvation is not gained through religion, who our fathers are or what they have established for us. All of it is like drawing water from Jacob s well; it will NOT satisfy the spiritual thirst of our souls for the living water only Jesus gives. We may worship as part of a particular denomination or religion, but that denomination or religion is not the source of living water. Jesus alone is the source! When Jesus answers her, He explains the water He is talking about: Whoever drinks of this water (from Jacob s well) will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13 14, parentheses added). An encounter with Jesus where He reveals Himself and leads us to a point where we see and believe Him as the source of living water is the only thing that will save us for eternity and satisfy our ongoing spiritual needs as we live and figure out life here on this earth! The living water He offers is the exact thing for which our souls thirst, and it is only found in Christ! Jesus is exact! Jesus meets us at our exact point of need to reveal Himself as exactly what we need! What about you? Are you at Jacob s well trying to draw water that will only leave you thirsty again? Is Jesus counter cultural to you? Is He challenging the traditions of your religion and upending the 7

9 traditions and beliefs of your fathers all you have ever known and done? Is He getting your attention in an unconventional way? Has He ordered His exact route to this exact place at this exact time to use your physical and/or soul need to show you your spiritual need for Him? What will your response be? Give Me Living Water The Samaritan woman still does not know whom this man is who sits before her talking about living water. She still thinks He is talking about water as a natural resource. Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw (John 4:15). And Jesus answers in a way that seems totally out of left field. Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet (John 4:16 19). I love how she is totally honest with Jesus, admitting she has no husband. When He reveals details He could not have known, her response in verse nineteen establishes the reason for His revelation: Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. She is beginning to see He is something special. She sees He is a prophet; but it is not enough to know Jesus as prophet. He is engaging her in a conversation through which He is revealing the truth of who He really is. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:20 24). He continues to challenge her religion versus true worship. He continues to reveal truth and what it means to be a true worshipper. There is one way to worship the Father, and Jesus is telling her that one day it is neither going to be the way the Jews do it nor the Samaritans. God who is Spirit must be worshipped in spirit and truth, not in a certain place at a certain time in a certain way, as was all she knew! And here comes the big reveal! We think we have cornered the market on post worthy reveals like gender reveals and engagement reveals and homecoming and prom reveals, but if social media would have been around in Jesus day, this reveal surely would have gone viral! 8

10 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He" (John 4:25 26). BAM! He does exactly what she has been taught the Messiah will do! The Messiah when HE comes will tell them all things! His random diversions talking about her husband/husbands are His exact plan to do exactly what she has been told He will do! In letting her know He knows she has had five husbands and the one she is living with is not her husband, He is showing her He knows all things about her. He reveals the truth of her sin, and she answers honestly what He already knows. Whatever is going on in our lives public or private, secret or obvious Jesus knows. Nothing is hidden. Jesus will address our sin so we will see the truth of it as sin. He will bring it into the light of His presence so we can find forgiveness. And He is saying to us: I who speak to you am He. I am the gift. I am the source of living water. I am He. Jesus knows it is not enough for her to see Him as a prophet; she must see Him as Messiah the Promised One, sent to take away the sins of the world, to pay the price of our sins so by His blood we have a way to be made right with God once and for eternity! Is Jesus revealing Himself to you? I who speak to you am He! Maybe for the first time, or maybe you only know Him as a prophet, but not yet as Messiah. Maybe you know Jesus as Messiah, but you have a Jacob s well of your own from which you draw water that leaves you thirsty. Are you at the well with Jesus? Is He saying to you: I am eternal life. I am a spring of living water that satisfies your every soul need. I AM HE! 9

11 Will you ask Him for living water? Will you ask Him to satisfy your soul thirst so you will not ever have to come back to your Jacob s well to draw for a need that is now entirely and eternally satisfied in Him? When we go to Jesus when He is the well we draw from He gives us living water that springs up unto everlasting life. It is eternal. It never runs dry. It is always springing up. When we draw from Jesus, not only does He satisfy our need for Him, but He also fills us with what we need to pour into others His living water becomes in us a fountain of water springing up into eternal life! Imagine how our lives, marriages and families would change if we drew from Jesus and received His living water. What if Jesus became in us a fountain springing up in us from which we could then pour into our husbands, kids, grandkids, friends, aging parents, bosses, employees, co workers, neighbors, people we serve with in the community, people we go to church with, and so on? Jesus is the only source of living water to satisfy our eternal thirst for salvation; when He reveals Himself as the very satisfaction for our souls and as living water for every soul thirst we have, He supplies what only He can give, which is exactly what we need for the time we are here on this earth. Jesus is exact! Jesus meets us at our exact point of need to reveal Himself as exactly what we need! Depending on how you might have answered some of these questions, I encourage you to talk to Jesus. Engage in the conversation. Or talk to me by leaving me a comment or sending me an through my Contact Me page at shaunawallace.com. Talk to a friend you know has a personal relationship with Jesus and can answer your questions. Say to Jesus: Give me this water. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, all it takes to receive living water that springs up into everlasting life is faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. If you have questions about exactly what salvation is, what it means and how to get it, please visit my website at shaunawallace.com and click on The One Way of Salvation in the right sidebar toward the bottom for a detailed explanation. 10

12 Jesus will meet us at our Jacob s well because He wants to be the only well from which we draw for the satisfaction He knows we need and only He can give. And when Jesus is our well, all is well with our souls. 11