thirsty

We've all been thirsty before.  When I get back from a run, all I want is a long drink of water.  Nothing else sounds as good.  This past weekend, I listened to my sister share the story of the woman at the well in John 4.  Like anyone else who is human, she got thirsty.  Only, her solution to the problem was not just to turn on the faucet and get a drink, or pull out a nice cold pitcher from the fridge.  If she wanted water, she had to go get it from the local well.  It was a hot, daily task, but without it, she would not be able to drink.
So, she packed up, grabbed her water jar, and headed to the well to quench her thirst.  Only, she had no idea all that was waiting for her when she got there.  As she was throwing down her jar to have it filled, Jesus came up to her and asked for a drink.  His request shocks her:  He was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan.  The two never mixed...and most Jews wouldn't have dared to be near a Samaritan, let alone ask to drink after one.  She can't believe He would ask such a thing of her, and she tells Him as much.  His response is somewhat ironic:  He says that if she only knew who He was, she would be asking Him for living water. 
There's so much in this story...it's one of my favorites.  But as I listened to Jessie share it this weekend, I saw something new about it, something that had never stuck out to me before.
I couldn't help but think of another story about wells, this one in Jeremiah 2:13.  The Lord is talking to Jeremiah about His people.  He says they have committed two evils:  the first is that they have forsaken Him.  Israel was constantly choosing anything but the Lord, other gods, the strength of man, their own idolatries.  Over and over throughout their history, they can be seen rejecting the grace and love of the Lord. 
The result of this leads to their second sin:  the Lord says they have made for themselves their own cisterns (another word for wells).  What's even worse is that these cisterns, these wells that are supposed to hold life-giving sustaining water, are broken.  They hold nothing.  So not only has Israel chosen to forsake their God, they have chosen to forsake Him for empty, meaningless things.
How often do we do that?  What do I work and work to fill myself with, only to find it doesn't fill at all?  Jobs, relationships, appearance, money, status, things, performance?  Empty...they are empty, all of them!  None of them will satisfy, because none of them was designed to fill me...none of them are the Lord.
I love that this woman at the well chose the other way.  She realized that what the Lord had to offer her was so much more than anything else she had run after.  The words of John 4:28 sum it up perfectly, "So the woman left her jar and went away into the town..."  She didn't need her water jar anymore...she had been filled with the water of life.
I pray you might be filled as well...