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I am using the YouVersion 49 Week Bible Challenge for these devotions. Today’s readings are John 4; Genesis 33; Joshua 8; 24; Isaiah 12.
John 4:1-15
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Isaiah 12:3-6
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.5 “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Each day of the 49 week Bible Challenge we are asked: In today’s readings, do you notice a promise to trust, a command to obey, a truth to embrace, a warning to heed, or an encouragement to rest in? What do you learn about God, about yourself, or about the world? Is there one verse or thought that stands out to you today? Talk to God about it.
There is a promise to trust, a command to obey, a truth to embrace, an implied warning to heed, and a delightful encouragement to rest in.
The Promise
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13-14
To drink the living water of Jesus is to believe his word and promise. It is to recognize that he is greater than Jacob, Paul, Luther, Einstein, or any other human being. It is to trust his promise, and to find refreshment in the spiritual overflow of his grace into our lives.
To drink the living water is also to allow that water to well up from within our souls, overflowing into the lives of others. Grace upon grace. Mercy and kindness. Love and favor. This water isn’t just for our refreshment, it is meant to overflow from us to others. John also records, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’” – John 7:37-38
The Encouragement & Command
This promise of Jesus is also encouragement to rest in: we are not simply to be refreshed. We are to refresh others. This is also the implied command to obey. The command is more fully expressed in Isaiah 12:4: “make known his deeds among the peoples.” The Samaritan woman does this enthusiastically. She will tell people all about the one who told her everything about herself. She would also convey – just by the telling – that Jesus did not condemn her, shame or embarass her. He loved her. He saw her. He called her to a better way of life.
Truth & Warning
Jesus is greater than Jacob who give these people this well. His fame echoed through the centuries since he lived. But Jesus’ fame is from eternity to eternity. From the very beginning to the end of time and on into eternity, Jesus has been, is, and will be praised. The warning: don’t try to fill yourself with fleeting waters that never quench our deepest thirst. We do need to drink and eat. But even more we need the water of life that comes from Jesus. It satisfies for all eternity.
I am ever more aware of my own faults, flaws, and failures. I would be lost in a vortex of despair were it not for Jesus’ water of life. Refreshing. Reviving. Sustaining. For all eternity. So I will, “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously. I will let this be made known in all the earth.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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