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 4:14 ESV

The first stanza of the hymn “Springs of Living Water,” begins with the words, “I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame.” Now, certainly every one of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus have been there at one time or another. The worst part of that time in the desert was that we were dying of thirst with no idea that we needed water. But our barren lands are not always limited to sin and shame. This morning some of us are wandering in the barren land of grief, a failed marriage or a life changing health issue. And just like the woman in today’s verse, we are trying to fill our thirst at a well that is filled with only a temporary solution. The good news is that Jesus is sitting by our well of temporary solutions and He offers us His gift of Living Water. The difference between His gift and what is in our well, is that while our water quenches thirst, it lasts only for a moment. The water that Jesus offers will become a well inside of us that will flow out to others. By grace His Living Water can pour out through us to others who are grieving, to people sitting alone or abandoned. The gift that Jesus gives, becomes Living Water not only to us, but through us for others and where “thirsting spirits can be satisfied” God will get all the glory!

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3 ESV