John 4

The Gift Of God

The gift of God. John 4:10.

Have you ever seen the picture of an Eastern water-carrier from years ago? Slung on his back by leather straps is a large water-bottle not a water-bottle such as we use, but a leather one made out of the skin of a goat. In his hand he carries a shallow cup, and, as he moves along the busy streets, he cries, “The gift of God! The gift of God!”

“The gift of God!” What a splendid name for water! especially in the East, where water is scarcer and more precious than with us, and where men and women, boys and girls, are thirstier too because of the burning heat. You can imagine that the water-carrier has always plenty of customers.

Every now and then, a rich man of the East buys a lot of water, and sends the carrier through the streets to cry, “The gift of God quite free! Who will take the gift of God?” If the water-carrier had plenty of customers before, I expect he will have crowds now when the water costs nothing at all.

Perhaps Christ was thinking of an Eastern water-carrier when He spoke the words of our text. You remember where and when He spoke them. He was sitting on the edge of Jacob's well. He had come a very long way, and He was so tired that He found he could go no farther. His disciples had gone on to the village, ten minutes distant, to buy bread, and Christ was waiting their return.

As he sat there, up came a woman from the village to draw water. Christ's throat was parched and dry, and He had nothing to draw water with, so He asked the woman for a drink. It seemed a small thing to ask, but the woman was surprised, for, as it happened, she was a Samaritan, and the Samaritans and the Jews had such a deadly quarrel with each other that even to speak was unusual. So the woman said to Christ, “Why do you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for water?” If she was surprised at Christ's request she was even more surprised at his answer, for this is what He said. “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

What did Christ mean when He spoke of “the gift of God” and “living water”? It sounds puzzling, but I think we shall get at the meaning, though we may have to go round about.

Perhaps some of you know that our bodies, though they look so solid, are largely made up of water. The bodies of all animals are the same; and so are plants only more so. This water gets used up, and we have to add some to replace it. That is why we grow thirsty, and that is why plants droop when their roots get dry. If we did not drink water, and if the plants did not get moisture, neither we nor they could live.

You know also that these bodies of ours are not our real selves. Your body is not the real you, nor is my body the real me. The real self is within. We can't see it, but it is there. It is the part of us that thinks, and speaks, and acts, and we call it a soul.

As the body grows thirsty so does the soul. What does the soul feel when it is thirsty? Well, it usually has a longing for something, it can't tell what. It has a miserable, unhappy, unsatisfied sort of ache. It tries different things to cure the longing and make it happy. Perhaps it goes in for games or amusements. But though games and amusements are excellent they don't satisfy the thirst of the soul. Perhaps it thinks that success will bring it happiness. It believes that money, and fame, and a beautiful house, and fine clothes is what it needs, so it works hard at school, harder at college, and hardest at business, and it gets all these things. And then it finds they are no good. The aching and the longing are only worse than before.

Boys and girls, it is God who has put that unsatisfied feeling into our souls. He has put it there for the express purpose of drawing us to Him. He is trying all the time to tell us that the wells of the world will never satisfy the thirst of the soul, and that the only thing that will quench it is His gift of “living water.” And this gift is just Christ, and the living water is what He brings with Him.

If you take Him and all He brings eternal love, joy, and peace nothing else will really count. You will have the great secret of happiness. Your soul will thirst no more, for it will possess a fountain of “living,” that is to say, “flowing,” water from which it can always drink, and the aching and the longing will be for ever stilled.

And we have nothing to pay for this wonderful water. God gives it to us free. He gives it to us for nothing because Christ has paid the price. He gave His life just that we might have this everlasting happiness and joy. He is standing waiting for us. He wants us to take the gift. All we have to do is to say to Him, “Dear Christ, come into my heart. It is longing for You, and for the living water which You bring.”