Dying of Thirst

Introduction Water is absolutely essential for life. We can't go very long without it, a few days, without dying of thirst, so it serves as a powerful metaphor for other needs in our lives. We desire to belong, to feel significant, and to experience God's presence with us. To the extent that we go without these needs being met in our lives, we could say we all experience a desperate thirst. For some of us, we find ourselves holding an empty bucket in a scorched desert, staring at a dry hole in the ground. We're terrified because it seems like we've been abandoned and one of our most basic needs eludes us. Understanding the desperation of our situation, we cry out in angst, "Is God even here!" For others of us, our buckets are full, but the water we have to drink is salty-brackish. The more we drink from the well of consumerism, distraction and religious performance, the thirstier we become. This kind of thirst isn't acute, like the thirst of someone in the desert, but we become weary because this water isn't fresh. Both of these kind of people need a new source of water. And today we're going to look at how God does that. The Acute Problem of Thirst God's Track Record of Faithfulness In the biblical narrative, the wilderness is a place of testing and trial. Two weeks ago, we looked at how, immediately after his baptism, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to test him before his ministry began. The forty days he spent there, calls our mind Israel's forty years of testing in the wilderness, except unlike Jesus, they failed the test despite God repeatedly showing himself faithful in their story. The children of Israel, an extended family, went to Egypt to seek refuge from a famine. While there, they were mercilessly enslaved by the Egyptians. They cried out to the LORD, who sent Moses to deliver them. At God's direction and with God's power, Moses struck the Egyptians with ten plagues, showing how The LORD was more powerful that Egypt's gods. After God humiliated the Egyptian pantheon, he struck down the firstborn sons of every Egyptian household. Pharaoh, finally bowed the the inevitable, and freed the Israelites. Before long, though, Pharaoh regretted his decision and his army to pursue the Israelites, catching up with them as they camped on the shore of the Red Sea. There, God miraculously parted the Sea and allowed the Israelites to pass through on dry ground. Once the last of the Israelites were through the sea, God made the waters un-part, drowning the Egyptian army as it pursued the Israelites, definitively ending the threat from Egypt. While the desert is not a hospitable place, God provides for the Israelites during their time there. He led them through the featureless area with a pillar of cloud and fire He sends them bread from heaven, Manna and when the people clamour for meat, God sends Quails. The Israelites Grumble It's after all this has happened, that we read a story about the Israelites lacking water. At the Lord's command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. So once more the people complained against Moses. "Give us water to drink!" they demanded. "Quiet!" Moses replied. "Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?" But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. "Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!" The Lord said to Moses, "Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink." So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on. Moses named the place Massah (which means "test") and Meribah (which means "arguing") because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord here with us or not?" (Exodus 17:1-7 NLT). Now there would be nothing wrong with being concerned that you have no water while you're in the wilderness. But the Israelites' anger though is symptomatic of a deeper problem, which is clearly expressed in their final question: "Is the Lord here with us or not?" The people suppose that Moses is the one who is ultimately leading them. If it rests on Moses to provide them with water, then they're right to be freaking out. But, of course, Moses isn't the one providing for them. God is with them. He has proven his presence by defeating the Egyptian Gods. By destroying the Egyptian army, by providing Manna, and Quail, and by leading them with the pillar of cloud and fire. God has proven himself over and over, but when the Israelites are put to the test, they fail to have faith. The Reason for the Wilderness The Israelites' anger likely stems from a flawed understanding of how God works. They might have imagined that, after being delivered from Egyptian slavery, they could sail through the wilderness and painlessly enter the promised land. They hadn't counted on God leading them into a place of discomfort and deprivation, and they don't know how to interpret it. When your theology teaches you to expect smooth sailing, then finding yourself in the dessert can be disorienting. But the dessert has it's purpose. The children of Israel have lived as slaves for hundreds of years. God must teach them to live as free people. The wilderness is the school that teaches them. Their deprivation in the desert gives them the chance to clearly see how God can provide for their needs. When we are totally dependent on God, and God shows himself faithful, we have an easier time trusting the next time we're in a similar situation. I've experienced this myself. Carolyn and I were married during the economic downturn at the beginning of the Great Recession. A year after we got married, both of our jobs were looking somewhat iffy, and we decided to move to Korea to teach English. We could save up that year, pay down some student debt and, I assumed, the whole economic malaise would have blown over by the time we needed to return to Canada in search of work. But the recovery took a long time. In 2010 when we moved back to Canada, the unemployment rate was still high, and we both struggled to long-term work. Much of the money we had saved, with the intention of paying down student debt got spent just supporting ourselves when we were underemployed. But things never totally collapsed. At a certain point, we couldn't make a budget work. Our regular bills were greater than the income we could count on. But somehow, we had enough money to keep our heads above water.As I considered this, I realized I had a choice. I could file that memory away, remembering God's faithfulness when I faced lean times in the future, or I could flush it down the memory hole and freak out the next time I found myself in need. The Israelites chose to freak out. They were meant to look back on how God had faithfully provided for their needs, so they would have grounds for future trust. But instead, they chose to discount the past experiences, as if God hadn't shown himself faithful. All of us go through tough times, but we choose how to interpret them. This is what Paul is saying in Romans: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit [his presence] to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:3-5, NLT). While our natural tendency, like the Israelites, is to interpret the hard times as a sign of God's abandonment, in fact, these times are a gift from God that allows us to grow deeper in faith. Choosing How To Interpret Our Trials What are the places in our lives where we experience the acute sense of thirst like the Israelites do? Maybe it's with regard to money. Affordability is a major concern of many people in our country right now. Houses, groceries, and cars cost staggering amounts of money. For many of us, wages haven't kept up with the cost of living and we feel squeezed. At times like this, God may be asking us to tighten our belts, in order to learn that the good life isn't always the life with the most possessions. Or perhaps, God is asking us to trust in his provision. Generosity, to the church, to family members, or to needy strangers is often one of the first casualties when we fear for our financial future. But God wants us to consider our need in light of his past faithfulness. Maybe we've found that when we've been obediently generous to God that God has been generous by blessing us. Another common place where we might face trials is with health concerns. When my health suffers, it's easy to feel like God has failed me. A person can do all the right stuff-exercise, healthy diet, plenty of sleep-and still find themselves getting sick. When that happens, do we default to a place of self-pity, demanding, "Where are you God" or do we hold on to a place of hope, praying, "God I don't know why you've allowed this to happen, but I pray that you'll sustain me through it, and help me see your faithfulness, even in this place." A third place we might experience trials is in relationships. Maybe your marriage is a struggle. Your children's choices are breaking your heart. Maybe you've been betrayed by a friend, or your work environment is crushing your soul. None of us want to be in those places, but when they happen to us, we choose how to interpret what God is doing. Is he persecuting us, or is he at work in hardship, growing our faith and making our hope more assured? So when you find yourself in the desert place wondering if God has abandoned you to die of thirst, remember that God has brought your here to give you water from the rock: A taste of his presence, and a testimony of his faithfulness The Chronic Problem of Thirst While the problem of acute thirst fills us with fear, there is another kind of thirst, that is more insidious. It happens when the water we drink doesn't slake our thirst. We can learn a lesson about drinking the wrong kind of water from the story of the USS Indianapolis. The Example of Indianapolis In the final days of World War II, the USS Indianapolis delivered the first atomic bomb to the US air base at Tinian Island, where the Enola Gay would begin its mission to bomb Hiroshima. After offloading the bomb, the Indianapolis sailed for the Philippines, but along the way, it was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. About 900 sailors managed to get off the boat before it went down, but most of the survivors died before they were picked up four days later. Without fresh water to drink, many of them became so desperately thirsty that drank the seawater. While saltwater might seem like something you could drink, it doesn't help with thirst at all. Seawater overwhelms our system to sodium. To flush the excess sodium, the kidneys use up more fluid than the sea water contained, so they end up more dehydrated. You also become delirious, because excess sodium also makes you delusional. Many of the sailors, drank seawater, and in their dehydration and delirium attacked each other. Only 316 of the 900 sailers who managed to get off the boat survived. This reminds us that if we drink the wrong water, it can't meet our needs. We experience something like this, when we try to meet our spiritual needs with non-spiritual stuff. While we need is God's presence, we often redirect our thirst, trying to dull the pain of his perceived absence with consumption, with escapist entertainment, with sex, drugs, or alcohol or with empty religious ritual. We see this reality in the story of the Woman at the Well A Samaritan Woman The story takes place when Jesus and his disciples are passing through Samaria. Jews and Samaritans didn't get along. Samaria had once been the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. After the Assyrians exiled most the Israelites from the area, they repopulated it with exiles from other places in their empire. These foreigners intermarried with the remaining Israelites. These half-breeds (as they were seen by the Jews) mixed worshiping the LORD with their pagan religions. So their faith was a theologically corrupted version of Judaism. The Samarians built their own temple on Mt. Garazim, saying that was where God wanted to be worshiped. Eventually the Jewish Hasmonean kings conquered their territory, and when they did, nthey destroyed the Samaritan temple. So there's some serious theological and historical bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans. This is the context of the story: Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?" Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." "But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?" Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." "Please, sir," the woman said, "give me this water! Then I'll never be thirsty again, and I won't have to come here to get water." "Go and get your husband," Jesus told her. "I don't have a husband," the woman replied. Jesus said, "You're right! You don't have a husband-for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!" "Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?" Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming-indeed it's here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus told her, "I Am the Messiah!" Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, "What do you want with her?" or "Why are you talking to her?" The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" So the people came streaming from the village to see him (John 4:5-30 NLT). Some things that would have been obvious to the original audience that are less obvious to us now. First, This woman is an outcast. Her relational history would make her seem like damaged goods to the people in her village. That's why she comes to the well in the heat of the day. Normally, the women would do the hard work of hauling water during the cool of the morning. Either she's not welcome to join the other women, or she can't stand to be with them. Second, when Jesus says he can give her 'living water' the statement isn't as odd as it sounds to our ears. 'Living water' was a way of saying fresh water from a running source, as opposed to stagnant water. So the phrase has a double meaning, and that's why she misunderstands. I imagine this woman is miserable. She's an outcast among her people. She's been married five times. Now she isn't even bothering to marry the man she's with. She seems to keep going back to that (metaphorical) well to find meaning and purpose. But drinking from it again, leaves her thirsty and more wretched, like she's drinking salt water. Jesus offers her something different. Not the brackish water of the metaphorical well she's been trying to use to slake her thirst, but fresh, living water that can actually do what the water she's been drinking has never done: to satisfy her. The Risk of Living Water Accepting this water is a risk, though, is a risk. As a Samaritan woman, she knows rejection. Samaritans feel the rejection of the Jews. Her experience of being married many times suggests she's known rejection by men. Her social isolation indicates she's rejected by the other Samaritan woman. If her own people reject her, how much more ought she expect that the Holy creator God would reject her. So she dares not expect anything of God. Jesus knows what this woman needs. But he also knows she can't accept God's mercy, unless her sin is first exposed. She's like every insecure person who desperately tries to hide their flaws, fearing that if their friends, their spouse, or their church really knew who they were, they would be abandoned. So Jesus cuts to the heart of the issue. He asks her to get her husband. Sensing him probing at an uncomfortable place, she deflects saying she has no husband (when it's really so much more complicated). Jesus then shows her he knows the score. "You've had five husbands, and now you're shaking up with someone who isn't your husband". There. He said it. She stands completely exposed. No doubt terrified, she tries to change the subject, steering the conversation towards a Jewish/Samaritan controversy, hoping Jesus will take the bait and forget all about the 'husband' thing. But she doesn't really want to discuss this, we can see this because rather than arguing with Jesus' response, she throws up her hands and says, Only the Messiah will sort this out. Then Jesus lets the cat out of the bag: that Messiah, you're waiting for? That's me (In saying it, he even works in the Divine Name I AM He's not just the Messiah, he's also the incarnation of I AM. Suddenly she sees. This isn't a Jew looking to scold her or to pick a theological fight. It is the Messiah, and he's come to make peace with her, a sinner, With her community, a collection of presumed heretics. The joy that wells up in her (OK, pun intended) causes her to run and tell the good news: I'm no longer excluded. We're no longer excluded. We have a new source of water. This water can satisfy the deepest thirst in our lives that our religiosity, or our promiscuity could not. This Samaritan woman is venerated as St. Photini by the Eastern Orthodox church. She was dying of thirst, while trying to draw water from a well. But she got a taste of real water-living water-and she finally understood what she'd been missing. And it didn't matter that she was Samaritan, a woman, or had a reputation for being immoral, because Jesus knew her and gave her the water anyway. She tellingly leaves behind her bucket, a way of expressing that she doesn't need the old water anymore, because she's found something better. Conclusion Of course, we all need physical water to keep our bodies hydrated, but we need more than the water that keeps us physically alive. Just as people does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God, so we don't live by physical water alone, but by God's presence with us-his spirit-indwelling us. Maybe you're experiencing what the Israelites experienced in the wilderness. You're acutely aware of your physical needs. And in that panic-inducing need, you start to question whether God is even with you. You start to worry that only human efforts can save you, and either you exhaust yourself trying to get the water you need, or you blame those in authority over you for not providing it. But the truth is that our experience in the wilderness, the place where our thirst becomes most obvious to us, isn't because we've been abandoned by God. Rather it's where God is working to give us assurance of his power to save. If this is your experience today, the call is simple: Hold on. Trust that God is with you. Of course, do what is in your power, but trust that God is faithful and will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Look at how God has been faithful to you in the past and trust that this is merely one more stop along that same journey. God is leading you to a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where his blessing are manifest in ways we had never dared to hope for. Maybe your experience is like the Samaritan woman. You drink the water you can find, but if you're honest, you're slowly dying of thirst. The wells you keep going back to: the well of consumption, the well of accomplishment, the well of distraction, the well of religious activity, none of them make you feel satisfied. They are merely intensifying that underlying thirst. You need new water. But just like the Samaritan woman at the well, that new water comes with a risk. Only Jesus can give it, and maybe I'm not sure if he'll give it to me. He knows my deepest, darkest secrets, after all, so why would he, a Holy God, give living water-His presence-to someone like me? It's true that Jesus sees My sin, just like he saw the sin of the woman at the well. But as she discovered, Jesus doesn't reject sinners; he's here to rescue them. So I have to ask myself: do I dare to come to him, to find this living water, or am I content to whither while trying to drink the brackish water that only leaves me feeling thirstier every time I drink it? In The Revelation, John writes his vision of the conclusion of history: heaven and earth, when heaven and earth are, at last, reunited. Tellingly the sea vanishes. The sea is the symbol of chaos, but for our purposes, we could also see it as the source of all the salty, unsatisfying water we've spent a lifetime drinking. Instead, Jesus promises, "To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life" (Rev.21:6). So whether you're desperately thirsty, or if you're slowly being dehydrated by water that doesn't quench your thirst, take heart, because Jesus is with us. His water is freely available if we will trust him in the times of trial and seek him above all else. Dying of Thirst | Dying of Thirst By Peter Law | Crossings Community Church, Kirkland Lake | March 8, 2026 | Year A Lent 3 Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 5:2-5, John 3:4-30