JOHN 4:13-15: Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Where is your satisfaction? We are going to seek it in something or someone. We are either going to pursue it in the many pleasures of this world and human relationships, or in the spiritual delights of the next world and a holy relationship with the living God. It must be this way for our Creator made us this way. We crave satisfaction. We long for heart contentment. We seek inward fulfillment. The fall in the Garden of Eden did not create this appetite in us. It is part of our created make-up. All that the entrance of sin into our human experience did was provide the wrong places to seek what we were created for – satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment.

Sadly, all we need to do is look around at the carnage in people’s lives who sought what only God can give. Wrecked relationships, bad decisions based on worldly pursuits, regrets over impulsive, fleshly actions, and much remorse over wasted money, time, and energy trying to satisfy our inward longings by the “fool’s gold” of this fleeting life. And this includes Christians. We too, may listen to the Siren’s Songs of the world and be deceived to seek what only God provides. But we don’t have to continue on this path of futility. Enter today’s scripture and the promise of our Lord Jesus.

In the familiar dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus offers her, and us, what brings lasting satisfaction, consistent contentment, and total fulfillment – the refreshing experience of living water that brings us to eternal life. Yet, these are to be understood for what they are – spiritual realities. Living water refers to the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is the giver of life and the instrument of that life is the Word of God. As physical water satisfies our physical thirst, so in the spiritual realm, the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit satisfies our spiritual thirst by bringing to bear on our hearts and minds His Word. He does so by giving to us eternal life, which is defined by Jesus, not as duration of life, but of knowing God and Himself – And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3). Here and only here is satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment.

So, satisfaction. Where are we seeking it? Or who are we seeking it in? Remember, we are going to seek it. Every human being will and the direction our seeking takes us – this world or the next – reveals if we are finding “the real source” or being deceived by the counterfeit.

PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I attempt to find what is found only in You – satisfaction.”

QUOTE: “Jesus will be enough to satisfy your every longing and craving if You go to Him.”