Jesus initiated a conversation with a request. He asked the Samaritan woman at the well with Him to draw a cup of water so He could take it in; but Jesus' request was not for actual water. What Jesus truly wanted was for the woman to draw from the well of herself, and offer to Him what she drew from deep inside: her spirit, her life, her love.
He wanted to build a spiritual relationship with her and he began by making a simple, though symbolic request. A symbiotic request: an exchange for what each other's "well" provides. Jesus makes an identical request to you, and perhaps like the woman of John 4:1-26, you do not yet know His full identity. But He knows yours and makes a request for it. A request to know who you are, to love who you are and to provide everlasting provision to protect who you are and enable you to thrive.
Our relationship with God is the one relationship in our life that has a single request: fidelity. And to those who provide it, He provides for. He knit you in the womb and knew that if you were to exclusively engage your life to Him, your life would be exclusively dependent on Him. God does not expect us to subsist on thin air, neither does He want us to survive on anything futile or harmful; so He provides a well from which we can draw: a source of living water, the sustenance of Him.
Allow Jesus to initiate a conversation with you.
A conversation with Jesus develops into a lifelong relationship.
How many people want to know who you are? How many people want to love who you are? The intricate details. Even the dark ones. God devotes His full attention to a concentrated effort to do just that: He wants to know what makes you smile and laugh; He wants to know what confuses or distracts you; He wants to know what dreams you contemplate and what hopes you foster; He wants to know what frightens you or taunts you.
In other words: He wants entry to your life and soul. He already has access to it; after all, He created it and allowed it to be itself. He could barge in. But He awaits your invitation. He delights in your conversation. He cherishes the authentic process, the relationship that deepens as it is explored lifelong. He awaits entry because He knows what impact He can make from inside.
Jesus made an intentional journey Samaria to speak with this woman, just as He makes an intentional journey to speak with you. Just you. To sit with you in a quiet place. To have a conversation that will give Him insight on how to best provide for you. To have a conversation that will give you insight on how to access that tailor-made provision.
Determine Who your partner and provider is.
With the knowledge that you would be dependent on Him for provision, He provided a source of specific, comprehensive sustenance.
Jesus instructed the women to call for her husband.
In the time and culture of this scripture, a woman was dependent on partnership with a husband for provision. He wanted her to call for the entity that was providing for her. But He did not mean an actual husband. He told her to call a figurative one. He will also instruct you to call for your husband. He will give you the opportunity to call for your figurative husband: the thing or person or philosophy that you have partnered with. The thing or person or philosophy that is supposed to be providing for you but by His estimation is not. Not adequately, and certainly not as comprehensively as Jesus would.
She responded that she did not have a husband. Jesus pointed at that indeed she did not have a husband: she had had five husbands. He did not point this out to shame her. He pointed it out to evidence that no partnership was as steadfast, as singular as His. He pointed it out to show her that none of those relationships provided what she actually needed, what nourished her soul. Jesus wanted her and us to understand that a person can move from one thing to another, from one person or philosophy to another, but none of it provides what we need soul deep. Not sufficiently and not eternally.
Juxtaposed Jesus, that thing or person or philosophy that we have partnered ourselves with is flimsy, powerless and even pathetic. Jesus us tells us to bring that thing near so that we can compare it to what He provides. Submission to an addiction? Dependency on a person? Fulfillment of a desire? A display of vanity? The attention of certain people? Do any of those things provide you value, purpose or strength? Love? Jesus says call for it. Put it in the center of the room. Put it directly under the light. Expose it. Compare it to Me.
Beneath your flesh is a soul. You cannot nourish your soul with sustenance for the flesh. Jesus sees what you are labeling as your "husband" right now and He's challenging it. He is declaring that it is not your rightful partner. Call it, see if it can contend with Him. Determine if it can provide better for you than He can.
If it can't, and it can't, it's time for a new partnership. It's time to partner with Jesus.
Draw from the Well of Living Water.
Drink from the deep well of the Holy Spirit, allowing His pure and cleansing water to course through your soul and life.
A human's body can go just three days without water. A human's soul can go an entire lifetime without the living water. But there would be no quality to that life. No weight. No purpose. No depth. No peace or joy or true love. In this world we have a lot of options, none of them as good as God. We can draw from all sorts of places, people and philosophies. But none of them as good as God.
Jesus wants you to understand that just as the body has to keep going back, once again, for temporary abatement to the well, so will you have to keep tapping into that thing that's getting you by, but only just: After a few days, you need another person to compliment you to once again, temporarily restore the value you have for yourself. You need your boyfriend or wife to tell you they love you so that once again, temporarily you feel secure in love. You need that drink or substance to once again, temporarily calm the storm within you.
Jesus says draw from a different well. Draw from the well of life God provided to once and permanently sustain your soul. When Jesus offers you to drink from the well of life that God provides, that existential, soul deep thirst is quenched forever. You do not need another person to make you feel valued. You do not need to be desperate for a secure relationship. You do not need to submit to anything, anyone, anymore.
So draw from that well. His well. Allow Him to plant it deep within you so that His provision springs up into your soul, into your life, for all your life. Access and utilize the strength and wisdom, love and justice, patience and perseverance He provides in specific response to every situation and season in your life.
Call for your husband, call for Jesus.