Hope in 60 Seconds by Cristina Baker

Author:Cristina Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2022-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

GIVE ME THIS LIVING WATER

There was once a woman trapped in a society that devalued women, at a time when a woman’s worth was tied to men. A single woman lived unprotected, with no rights, at the mercy of a society that looked on her with suspicion and disdain.

So she married.

She needed to in order to survive. Singleness would have resigned her to living the life of a poor outcast.

This woman knew a little something about the designation of an outcast. She ended up marrying five times and now lived with a man who used her without the protection of marriage. The people in her village rejected her as a woman of no value. A woman of ill repute. Not only did she bear the shame of her tribe and kin, as a lowly Samaritan, her Jewish neighbors also despised her.

She scraped out her meager existence each day, performing tasks for the man she lived with. She waited each night until she could escape in sleep, hoping that nightmares would not come to her again in the darkness.

Each day, she waited until all the other women had drawn water for their households, not in the cool of the morning as they did. She delayed until the sun shone hot, directly overhead in the sky, knowing that no one from the village would venture there at that hour. She could go in safety and draw water in peace, free from the accusations and judgment of the chaste women of the village.

As she made her way there with her waterpot, she saw a man sitting on the well. She slowed her pace, wary of the stranger, wondering why a man was there at all.

“Hello there, would you give me a drink of water?”

The woman shrank back, noticing for the first time that the man was a Jew. Jews didn’t talk to Samaritans. They didn’t walk on the same side of the street. A Jew wouldn’t let a Samaritan’s shadow cross theirs, let alone touch a vessel and drink from the hand of a Samaritan.

“Why ask me? Why would a Jew ask a Samaritan for a drink?”

Jesus smiled, meeting the hostility in her gaze with gentle acceptance. She had no idea that He had sent His disciples off to find food and walked there with the express purpose of meeting her.

His tender voice replied, “If you knew who I was, if you understood the generosity of God, you would ask me for a drink.”

She stared at Him in disbelief, frozen.

“And when you asked Me, I would have given you fresh, living water.”

She shifted the pot from her shoulder and answered, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket for drawing water. How do you think you will get this ‘living water’ anyway? Are you better than Jacob, our ancestor who dug this well? This is Jacob’s well—it is deep. It provided water for him and his sons and his livestock. Over all these generations, it has never run dry!”

Again, Jesus smiled, knowing she had no comprehension of His offer.

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