Give Up the Deep Well for the Living Spring

The Samaritan woman recorded in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of John at first did not know who Jesus was. She only recognized Him as a Jew from His appearance. Cultural, ethnic, societal and religious factors made her even more ignorant of this stranger who asked her for water to drink. Not only did this woman not know Jesus, she looked down because of her ignorance upon the Lord who had come especially to find her. ¡§Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?¡¨ (John 4:11) Not only will we sometimes not know God, we will often belittle Him as well.

The attitude of the Samaritan woman towards Jesus Christ is the same attitude most people have towards God. They not only have not tried to know Him better, but because of their lack of belief, they belittle Him, and misinterpret His good intentions. ¡§Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Him, ¡¥Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.¡¦¡¨ (Matthew 12:38) Will we be like the scribes and Pharisees and ask God to instantaneously gratify our desires according to our own wishes? ¡§Philip answered him, ¡¥Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!¡¦¡¨ (John 6:7) Will we be like Philip and assume that God works according to just one formula? ¡§¡¦Lord,¡¦ Martha said to Jesus, ¡¥if you had been here, my brother would not have died.¡¦¡¨ (John 11:21) Will we be like Martha and, though knowing that God has compassion and power, still complain that He neglects our pain and delays bestowing His grace on us? ¡§But he (Thomas) said to them, ¡¥Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it.¡¦¡¨ (John 20:25) Will we be like Thomas and, though hearing the testimonies of others for the Lord, still seek eye-sight experience, lack faith, and look down on the great power of resurrection of the Lord?

Besides walking a long way every day to fetch water from the Well of Jacob to quench her thirst, the Samaritan woman perhaps also sought each day to find a man like Jacob to be her ideal husband. In regards to personal achievement, love and male heirs, Jacob was enviable. (He did not rely on paternal backing, but worked hard to create his own enterprise and became a wealthy man. He was dedicated in love, and laboured 14 years for his uncle to gain Rachel as his wife. His progeny were numerous, becoming a great nation, and his son Joseph was made the chief minister of Egypt.) Regrettably, though this woman had gone through 5 husbands, she did not find the ideal mate to provide her with a sense of materialistic security or the love she longed for. Perhaps it was the thirst of her carnal passion that drove her to rebuke the law of her ancestors, bury her moral conscience, willingly accept the disdain of her fellow villagers, and covertly raid someone else¡¦s spouse time and time again. The heart of this Samaritan woman is as unfathomable as the Well of Jacob. (Proverbs 23:27) A person¡¦s heart is truly like a deep pit or a narrow well, filled with murky desires and deceit. ¡¨The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?¡¨ (Jeremiah 17:9) Although the human heart is like a deep well, yet the Son of God is all-perceiving. At the same time, the discerning spirit of God can penetrate and illuminate, exposing the hidden corruptions of mankind one after another. ¡§Go, call your husband and come back.¡¨ (John 4:16) Jesus Christ wants us to first admit to Him our corruption, hand over the moral diseases within, come near the living spring that cleanses sin, and receive His living water that is freely given to us.

Dear readers, please grasp this opportunity to give up the deep well of your moral corruption, and get close to the spring of living water that is Jesus Christ. Since He can cleanse all sin, He can also satisfy the thirst of your soul, and grant you everlasting life.

¡§Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.¡¨ (Psalm 139:23-24)

By: Daniel To