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.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

• John 4:9-24

“Our Lord never talked in stages of experience; that is, He does not talk to our heads, He instructs us in our relationship to Him. Here, He is leading a woman into the grace of God, the overflowing favor of God, it is so overflowing that we trample it underfoot; it seems so humble and gentle that we ignore it. Jesus is dealing with the grace of God toward sinners, and the characteristic of the grace of God is that it wells up into everlasting life, a fountain of living water-not merely a clean heart, but a full one, being kept clean.”

• Oswald Chambers, He Shall Glorify Me

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, we will look at Oswald Chambers’ book He Shall Glorify Me.  The first several chapters are about the Holy Spirit.

At one time, the YMCA stood for Young Men’s Christian Association.  It was a combination of a youth hostel lodging and Christian outreach.  Few YMCA have any overnight boarding allowed anymore.  The Village People hit song YMCA was the “fun staying at the YMCA.”  Note: Corrie ten Boom stayed at the YWCA whenever possible during her years of evangelism.

But these days, membership in the YMCA is all about exercise, a pool, or more than one pool, and exercise classes.  Cheaper than most gym memberships.

Oswald Chambers spent the last two years of his life training YMCA missionaries in Egypt.  Most of his books were published by his wife after his death.  She used his teaching notes and some sermons to create My Utmost for His Highest and Daily Thoughts for Disciples.  The latter is compiled from the various books published under the name of Oswald Chambers.  The chosen book is one of those used in the compilation.

Discussion

As Chambers writes, God wants a relationship with us.

God is surrounded by angels.  The angels do a great job of doing as they are told.  We aren’t like that, but God will fix that part of us in our new bodies.

And Chambers speaks of how we miss the point in this story.  There are a lot of directions that a Bible study could go.

The Samaritans were not liked by the Jews.  The Jews had warred with their cousins to the north.  Then Israel was conquered by Assyria.  The Jews thought they were somehow charmed, but it was not long before they were conquered by the Babylonians.  The Assyrians mixed nations so that the people in any one area had no national identity.  It was Assyrians plan to turn the nation of Israel into Samaria, containing half breed Israelites, Samaritans.  And many Israelites were scattered over many other countries that Assyria controlled.  In contrast, the Babylonians kept the Jews in ghettos, settlements of exiled people.  They remained prisoners, but they maintained their identity.

The Samaritan had no husband.  She was a sinner.  But are we not all sinners?

Jesus was thirsty, but that seems to be a moot point once He starts the conversation.  For Jesus has living water.  What is living water?  The Holy Spirit is that living water within us, guiding us, helping us, and protecting us.

Do we get thirsty?  Yes, we do.  A health expert will tell you that once you recognize that you are thirsty, you have been dehydrated for some time.  I take a water pill in the morning.  I know what it is like to feel thirsty.  I almost cannot drink enough in the morning.

But I still have living water.

In a way, I am still thirsty in that respect.  When you have a relationship with Jesus, you want more of Jesus.  That thirst for righteousness, or being more like Jesus, never seems to be quenched.  Maybe because the job is not finished until I breathe my last in this world.

Jesus talks about when the demon is cast out and nothing replaces the demon, in time, the demon will return, bringing others with him.

Chambers last sentence alludes to that.  God does not simply save us and give us living water, but He fills us, to keep us clean.  Chambers always talks of perfect cleanliness and full sanctification.  We will not be rid of this body until wee breathe our last, but a sanctification that moves in the right direction will be growing toward that perfection that we will see in our new bodies.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  Holy Spirit, reveal what I need to work on.  Give me the strength to be more like Jesus every day.  And let the living water within me overflow to bless others around me.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.