The word "water" is an important one in the Bible and is used frequently in descriptions of God's loving care for His creation. In Isaiah we read: "When the poor and needy seek water,... and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.... That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this."
Isa. 41:17, 18, 20
These words might be taken literally, but Christ Jesus' meeting, in the town of Sychar in Samaria, with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well shows us a deeper dimension. Having asked her for something to drink, he went on to indicate that he had "living water" to offer. Referring to the water in the well, he said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." And then he promised, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
John 4:13, 14
What could Jesus have meant by using the word "water" in this way? Does that water heal what can be described, metaphorically, as drought?
