Come and Drink

The words on the paper page came into focus again.  “but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. 

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I did a thing today.  A thing I’ve not done in a while.  Shocker alert: I picked up my Bible.  You know, the one that’s leather-bound, that spends way more time on my shelf next to my bed collecting dust now than in my lap.

Yes, I’ve fallen into the routine as so many others in our digital world.  Grab the phone or iPad and scroll to my favorite Bible app.

Yet, there was something very satisfying as I held the Book in my hands flipping through the tender pages.  As I contemplated what to read, the prompt came to just let the pages fall open as I had done so many times in my earlier years with the Lord.

My eyes landed on one of my most loved passages.  “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 4:10

Immediately, it was as if the sweet presence of Jesus filled my room, and He was standing in front of me.

“Carolyn, what are you going to drink from today?” He paused.  I almost could see His eyes piercing my heart.  “Will you drink of Me?”

My head tilted down again as my eyes scanned the familiar story for the next words.  “Are you greater than our father, Jacob…?” the woman counter.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again…”

My attention was drawn back into the Lord’s presence.  “Carolyn, anything or anyone else you choose to focus on today, that you choose to drink from today, won’t satisfy you daughter.  They will only leave you thirsty again.”

Deeper, clearer, I could see His eyes.  I wanted to swim in them.  Pure, holy, liquid love.

My mind rambled to all the media reports to all the political theories to my children’s needs to my husband to my business demands to social media to a broken friendship with my elderly parents I’m caring for.  On and on, all the people, all the opinions, all the distractions of life rumbled through my mind like a freight train.

The words on the paper page came into focus 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.”

It was as if Jesus whispered in my ear, “Child, the only water that will satisfy you is Me.  And if you choose to drink of Me, to drink deeply of Me, it will well up, again and again, bubbling over in You for eternity.”

I thought of this woman who was so broken and outcast that the only time of day she would venture out to get water was in the heat of the day to avoid the ridicule of the villagers.  I get her.  I’ve been rejected and ridiculed.  I’ve been shattered and outcast.

“Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty again and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  Can you hear the desperation in her voice?

Then Jesus told her, “Go, call for your husband and come back.”  I used to this was so unkind, like He completely just exposed her to the world.  Yet, He already knew her brokenness when He said this.  He knew she had been married five times, and the man she was with she wasn’t married to.  He wasn’t condemning her.  He was saying, “Daughter, I see how you have been rejected by men, but I’m not rejecting you.  I see how you have been abused.  I see you.  I know you.  Don’t let your past stop you.  Come and drink.”

What I love about this woman is she was looking and longing for Messiah.  Jesus comes to those who truly seek Him.  “Seek and you will find.”  She was honest about her past, and she allowed Jesus into her pain.   She chose to take a long, thirst-quenching drink.

According to church history, “the woman at the well” became a leader in the early church, not only leading her entire village to the Lord but later boldly presenting the good news to Nero, the cruel Roman Dictator and winning his daughter to Christ.  Truly, she drank deeply of Jesus and her life was a testimony of His love bubbling over and over in her to eternal life.

Here’s the reality about me though.  I really needed a drink this morning, a good long refreshing drink of Yeshua (Jesus).  Most of the time, because of real needs in my present life, I’ve felt stretched like a rubber band here and there and everywhere.

More often than I’d like to admit, I get caught up in the “cares of this world”.  I look to people to fill me, to social media to get my hit for the day; to my friends, family, or business to make me feel happy or fulfilled.   These aren’t necessarily bad things, but they can’t fill my heart.  They can’t quench my thirst.  Many times when I find myself “running after things”, it’s because I really am thirsty.

The truth is there only one “person” (The Great Three in One Person) who can satisfy my thirst.  Will I stop long enough to take a deep, filling drink of Him?  Will You?

The world will keep right on spinning, people will keep right on sharing their opinions/views, demands will still be thrown at me continually.  If I am not drinking from the right source, I will shortly become bone dry and have nothing left but dust.  Or I can be still and “know” my Lord, Jesus.  I can and will answer His call to

“Come and drink.”

 

 

Featured Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

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About the Author

I am a beautifully, broken daughter of the King. A mom to three, bride to one, author, artist, but most importantly, lover of Jesus. Come walk with me, as I walk with Him!