Daily Devotions
Empty Wells
Title: Empty Wells
Reading for November 1: John 3-4
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again."
John 4:13-14
A woman comes to a well to draw water, just as she had done her whole life. Only this time, she meets a Man who reveals to her why she is still thirsty. He offers her something to completely quench her thirst so she never has to come back again to draw water.
We all have a well we go to. For some of us it is pornography or sex. Others use their career or the pursuit of an education. Some use a drug or a shopping mall. The problem with these "wells" is that they fail to satisfy. Indeed, it is impossible for them to do that.
The "well" for this woman of Samaria seems to have been men. She had been with one man after another (six in all) trying to quench her thirst. Not only was she left feeling empty after each of these relationships, there were many scars left on her heart. In fact, it appears that these painful experiences had caused her to lose faith in her well (the fact that she was not married to the last man is indication of this).
Jesus did not look on her with righteous anger, but with compassion and pity. It is true, she was a sinner. She had not only lived the life of an adulterer, but of an idolater, seeking to fill her empty heart with something other than God. But Jesus in pity reached out to this sinner and offered her something better, something that would truly fill and satisfy.
Jesus wants to do that for us. Though we have used other things as substitutes, Jesus is reaching out to you and me saying, "Come to me and be satisfied! Drink deeply of my love and you will never have to come to this well again!"
Lord Jesus, we want to drink deeply of the water of life! Help us recognize the emptiness of all else!
