The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The desert is dry, arid, and can be, a lonesome place. An afternoon sun and an empty canteen can send the strongest soldier face-first into the sand. Current world events can leave a person thirsty for a taste of truth. And yet, truth can be the Trojan Horse of political campaigns. Says a lot about our status as a society. We have become far too casual with our words, and in our relationship with the Word.
For many people the desert’s end comes November 5th, an oasis from the political turmoil we have with one another. But trust me, it is only a mirage; a belief that something other than a spiritual revival will save our country. Some of our ideals are contrary to God’s Holy Word and cannot and will not be resolved through an election. We must return to our only saving grace, Jesus our Lord.
Many people are going out of our way avoiding people with differing opinions, trying to prevent squabbles. It can be demoralizing swimming in the stream with sharks and their large mouths and very sharp teeth. Jesus handled things differently, going out of His way at Jacob’s well to meet a lady about her future.
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:9-10
Like the world, this woman has been boiling in her own oil. Most women get their water from the well in the morning and she has come at noon to avoid condemnation about her past from other women. Can you imagine having five husbands and the man you are with is not one of those? Sometimes one is too many. LOL! But Jesus invests his time with the woman. She is very careful with her words, paddling away from revealing too much of her past. Shame is a very deep well to empty!
..”Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13
Now the woman still believes she needs a jar or a cup, but ready or not Jesus is pouring His living waters into her. She wants to move out of the spiritually bone dry desert but has not experienced life outside the cup. Many Americans refuse to think outside of the box they have created for themselves. They keep doing or buying things repeatedly expecting the hole in their soul to be filled by the things in this world. Jesus explains how He ends this cycle forever!
In John 4:23 Jesus tells her, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
She responded, “I know the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” John 4:25-26
This woman had an encounter with the Lord and was changed. How do I know this? One, she ran to tell people in town who looked down on her for her past. Two, she left her water jar at the well.
But she was not the only one changed, consider how his Jewish disciples would react to Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman. Generation upon generation of separation between Samaritans and Jews, along with men not speaking to women in public, and you have a very uncomfortable bunch of disciples. In John 4:27 we get a glimpse of their experience.
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want? or Why are you talking with her?”
We are living in a desert with our fellow citizens dying of thirst. Yes, this is a battle for the soul of America, but Jesus said we must show them the way to His living waters. Hostility begets hostility; we must step off the hamster wheel of the world and show them His way.
The devil would love for you to keep digging through the political trash, dumping it all over your neighbor’s yard. But you were called to be separate, different from the world. Join with Jesus and begin soaking the world with His living waters!