SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER

        Recently I was reading this familiar story from John  4. Jesus was tired and sat at a well while His disciples went into town to buy food. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. The Samaritan woman was quite shocked because Jesus was a Jew, and Jews simply hated the Samaritans. Of course, she had no idea who Jesus was and asked Him how He could ask her for water since He was a Jew.  Jesus ignored the question and went right to the point, "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 continued, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."  As I thought about this story several things came to my mind.  First was an old Sunday School chorus that I haven't sung in years, "Jesus gave her water that was not from the well, Jesus gave her water and sent her forth to tell.  She went away singing and came back bringing, others for the water that was not from the well."  My second thought was of the song written by John Peterson in 1950 that talks of the living water that Jesus shares.  Usually this song is thought to speak of the wondrous gift of salvation that comes through Jesus.  And certainly it does. "O sinner ... The Savior now invites you to the water free, where thirsting spirits can be satisfied."   But I think it also speaks of our everyday need to grow spiritually by drinking in what the Savior teaches us.  After all, in Matthew 5:6 he taught, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." If we are saved, we don't ever need to return to Him for salvation.  That is assured.  But as growing plants need water to grow and produce, we do need Him to be the source of our daily  strength and spiritual growth. And when the chorus talks about "happy now am I", it isn't talking about outward passing fun, but of the eternal satisfaction and joy which one experiences when one daily grows closer to the Lord.  Now I am aware that there are some critics of this song because it speaks about "springs" rather than "spring". But, I am sure that the writer would agree that there is only one source of this salvation and satisfaction and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.  In this age when many claim different ways to salvation, it is essential to understand that Jesus is the only way.  He himself said that.  So this week drink fully of what the Lord has provided for those who put their trust in Him.  Then your thirst will be completely satisfied.

(1)     I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame, 

And nothing satisfying there I found; 

But to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came, 

Where springs of living water did abound. 

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

Happy now am I, my soul they satisfy; 

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

O wonderful and bountiful supply. 

(2)     How sweet the living water from the hills of God, 

It makes me glad and happy all the way; 

Now glory, grace and blessing mark the path I've trod, 

I'm shouting Hallelujah every day. 

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

Happy now am I, my soul they satisfy; 

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

O wonderful and bountiful supply. 

(3)    O sinner, won't you come today to Calvary? 

A fountain there is flowing deep and wide; 

The Savior now invites you to the water free, 

Where thirsting spirits can be satisfied.

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

Happy now am I, my soul they satisfy; 

Drinking at the springs of living water, 

O wonderful and bountiful supply. 

Listen to it being sung here.   LISTEN

Here is a beautiful piano duet of this weeks song.   DUET