The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for
a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “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.” “Sir,” the woman said, “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?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:9-14 New International Version
“Thirst, as you probably know is one of the most potent drives for behavior we have. It may be the most potent we have, more than even hunger. Thirsty people are miserable.” – Dr. Jeffrey Berns, of the University of Pennsylvania
If you’re dying of thirst you become desperate. You may drink anything to alleviate the pain and discomfort. Even if in the long term, it poisons your body or just prolongs your agony. Why? Because thirst can be absolutely consuming. – “God Sized Hole:” Faith Fellowship, St. Petersburg, FL
“You have made us for yourself [Lord], and our hearts are rest-less till they find their rest in you.” – “Confessions” St. Augustine of Hippo
“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, known through Jesus Christ.” – Blaise Pascal
….We all have this longing, even when we are not aware of it, because it was placed there by our Creator. He has placed eternity in each one of our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Our cries are more than cries of pain; they are also cries of longing for more and better than we will ever experience in this fallen world. When you forget this, you work very hard to try to turn this moment into the paradise it will never be. Your marriage will not be a paradise. Your job will not be the paradise you long for. Your friendships will not be the paradise your heart craves. The world around you will not function like paradise. Your children will not deliver paradise to you. Even your church will not live up to the standard of paradise. If you’re God’s child, paradise has been guaranteed for you, but it will not be right here, right now. All things that disappoint you now are to remind you that this is not all there is and to cause you to long for the paradise that is to come. The dreams that die remind you that this is not paradise. The flowers that wilt remind you that this is not paradise. The sin that captivates you should remind you that this is not paradise. The diseases that infect you are to remind you that this is not paradise. Live in hope because paradise is surely coming, and stop asking this fallen world to be the paradise it will never be.
“New Morning Mercies”
Paul David Tripp
Now this I know:
The Lord gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
with the victorious power of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
Lord, give victory to the king!
Answer us when we call!
Psalm 20:6-9 (NIV)
You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. – Matthew 5:3
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14 (NIV)