Welcome to the first "Tuesday Morning" of 2010! I'm so glad we could meet here today. Let's do it every Tuesday this year!

 

Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." What a great thing! Filled! Satisfied! Completely! Only God can do this. "Those" means everyone. Anyone. Me. You. But there is one requirement. We really must want it. We must be thirsty. We must be hungry. The "satisfied" need not apply here. 

 

At the beginning of a new year, I can't think of anything I need more than to be spiritually refreshed. And God's promise seems clear: If I thirst for Him, I will receive Him! The title for this first "TM" of 2010 is "Refreshment Now!" Join me in asking God for that refreshment for yourself and those you love. He wants us to enjoy it, so let's let God do what needs to be done for us to experience it. From Week Number One to Week Number Fifty-two. And let's find someone else to experience it with us!

 

Tom Barnard

A Thirsty Soul

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Refreshment Now!

Tom Barnard

 

unger and thirst often go together, but if you must choose to avoid one over the other, choose thirst. A person may survive for days without eating and avoid permanently damaging their health, but a lack of hydration in a person’s body will lead to all kinds of very devastating things—including death. And quickly.

 

In the Forward to Max Lucado’s Come Thirsty (W Publishing Group, 2004), Michael W. Smith said, “We all know what it is to be thirsty—both physically and spiritually. That longing to quench your dry mouth can be powerful. But a dry heart—that’s unbearable. You need refreshment, and you need it now.”

 

All of us need refreshment. And we need it now—or very soon. In John’s Gospel the apostle weaves story after story of people whose lives were changed by Jesus of Nazareth. In Chapter 4 John tells about a nameless woman from the village of Samaria called Sychar (the town, not the woman). Her life came in contact with his at the town well, some distance outside the village. He stopped to rest while his disciples went into the village to buy food. It was about the noon hour, and the sun was high and hot.

 

The woman came alone (for reasons John clearly implied in verse 18) to draw water. She didn’t expect to see anyone at the well at that hour, especially a Jewish male! (John adds an edit in verse 9: “Jews do not associate with Samaritans”). Jesus asked for a drink of water because he had “nothing to draw with” (but she did) “and the well is deep.” She had no idea how thirsty she really was (but he did), so Jesus proceeded to tell her. And not only that, he told her that if she would only ask, he would give her a fresh stream of water (not anything like the sulfur-smelling water from the town well) and that it would permanently quench her soul’s thirst.  His exact words were:

 

“Whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become

a spring of water gushing up inside the person, giving eternal life” (John 4:14).

 

Wow! Just what she always wanted—an unlimited source of fresh water! Who wouldn’t want that? I can picture the scene. It didn’t matter now who he was or what his cultural background was. It didn’t matter that she had been taught never to expect anything but pain from Jews. He offered her what she could not get from any other source. Forget Sychar. Forget Jacob’s well. Forget her past. Forget the men in town who promised much but produced little for her other than five failed marriages and a very ugly reputation. Here was an opportunity for her to get something that would open doors for her wherever she went in life. She was ready. She said, “Sir, give me this water!”

 

But there was a catch. Jesus had things to say, and she had things to hear. Their conversation was nothing you would expect between a loser and a Winner. She had questions about where and how folk should worship, but she had no credentials for a discussion about theology! She had questions about Messiah, and she wasn’t even a Jew! Jesus knew her point of spiritual entry was through the gate of theology.

 

In Chapter 3, John told the story of an encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus knew a great deal about theology. But the point of entry to his soul was not through talking about theology, but through a rather earthy discussion about birth! The Samaritan woman knew everything about the birth process, but she needed to settle some issues about where and how worship takes place!

 

Both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman recognized that Jesus had answers to their spiritual thirst. He called Jesus “Rabbi.” She called Jesus “a prophet.” What they didn’t realize (but Jesus did) was the place where he could most easily break down the barriers that kept them from fully experiencing God. Methods were different; the results were the same. They both received spiritual refreshment…instantly.

 

Are you thirsty? Let Jesus hydrate your soul. How it happens is unimportant. That it happens is!