“If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you Living Water.” John 4:10
Most believers have a remedial response to the teachings of Jesus. They hear but don’t have a clue what Jesus is really saying!
Look at the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
Jesus was thirsty after walking for many hours and asked the Samaritan woman at the well for a drink of water.
The woman replied “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan and we have nothing to do with each other. How can you ask me for a drink?”
This is typical of how you and I respond to God. Jesus speaks to us and we respond with either a lack of understanding or unbelief. And like the Samaritan woman, we create roadblocks to accepting the reality of the words of Jesus.
We try to interpret Jesus from a human perspective when He speaks to us from a heavenly point of view.
Jesus answered the woman, “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.”
Jesus is telling the woman she is overlooking the simplistic solution of overcoming thirst with a drink of water from the well. He is directing her to the Son of God who possesses the spiritual remedy to never thirst again.
This woman is still in the dark and replies to Jesus, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
This woman is still trying to deal with Jesus from an earthly point of view. She responds you can’t draw water without a bucket and the well is deep. And, she is questioning the authority of Jesus compared to Jacob who came from the lineage of Abraham and established the well.
Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but who ever drinks the water I give them will never thirst because the water I give them will become in them a fountain of water springing up to everlasting life.”
Jesus is reasserting His authority and points the woman to the Living Water which is the life of Christ.
We tend to ask for superficial things when God wants to give us the deeper gifts that come from heaven.
Finally, the woman begins to grasp what is really important in this dialogue with Jesus. She responds to Jesus with formality. “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
The woman now understands Jesus is speaking from a godly point of view and she asks for the Living Water.
The point of this narrative is to listen to God but don’t try to interpret His words with the wisdom of man. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
The apostle Peter when asked by Jesus “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” declared “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus responded, “Blessed are you for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by My Father in heaven.”
Hal Hollister Ministry 