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Drinking without a cup II: Drinking for Deepening.

 ·  ☕ 5 min read  ·  ✍️ Odunayo Rotimi

Snapshot

Key Text: John 4:4-43.
The Samaritan woman: The multiple-times married woman.
Jesus: Father of all, and mankind’s fellow sufferer.
Samaria: A part of Israel deemed occupied by proselyte Jews.

How did the Samaritan Woman drink?

In her confrontational discussion with Jesus, Jesus made the Samaritan woman ask for a drink. Thankfully, perhaps illegibly, she got what she requested. Since she asked, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water (John 4:15),” which was in quick succession of a thirst Jesus had kindled in her. If Jesus hadn’t this water to give, He wouldn’t have made her asked for the water. Thus, we may conclude that the woman drank. The question we seek to answer in this series given the preceding is: “If she truly drank the living water without a cup, how did she drink?” This is a continuation of the previous episode, where we remarked that the Samaritan drank for her cleansing. Here, we shall observe how she drank deeply to quench the longing of her soul.

Drinking for Deepening

After she had been cleansed from her sins, the Samaritan woman delved into a more advanced topic. Unlike the Hebrews written to by Paul, she figuratively quitted the elementary matters of our faith (Hebrews 6:1-3). Instead, she headed for the course of perfection through worship. She knew that her ancestor, Abraham, was a worshipper and, in fact, grew one-step-at-time in a walk with God through worshipping God. “What exactly is worship?” one may ask. Worship may well be described with an illustration. The word “worship” in the bible was first used in connection with Abraham when he attempted Isaac’s life in obedience to God (Genesis 22:5,9,10). Worship here was offering one’s highest best: Abraham, his son (since he would have preferred to die than to kill his son); and Isaac his life (since he did not resist his father’s attempt on his life).

Thus, with her aptitude for knowledge, worship to her could not have meant praise singing as popularly, though falsely conceived nowadays. If anything, it must have connoted offering your best animals, possession, or whatever to God. One could only imagine how a newly cleansed woman could gravitate toward a matter of great importance as such. How when we become genuine newborns in Christ, our heart pants for sincere milk. Issues of importance to God suddenly gain prominence in our thoughts. The soul, like a deer, pants after “the one whom so long it has craved.”

Of course, we know in the New Testament that our most precious possession as men is our will. This is often noted as flesh in the bible. But, for any sake, we know the fleshes’ desires contradict the Spirit’s (Galatians 5:17-26). And there is no finer valley of confrontation of these sworn enemies than the recesses of our heart. Therefore, when she asked about worship, like when asked about fasting, Jesus told her worship will no longer be a thing of convergence in Israeli and Samaritan cities or mountain tops perse. Instead, worship will be on the mountain top of our self-will resident in the heart. Notably, Jesus said, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” Note that “spirit” is not capitalized, which makes it possible to be taken as our heart. For therein is our spirit contained.

In drinking deep, Jesus spent more time in discussion: the length of John 4:21-24 compared to John 4:14 tells. Jesus made sure He got to and shook the very foundation of her beliefs. He took ample time to do that. This is thorough work; it cannot be rushed. The effect of not settling for deepened drinking be likened to the product of an egg withdrawn before incubation completion. It oozes offensively to everyone around.

Dear new covert, have you drunk of the living waters past the level of initial cleansing? It is time to settle down for a deepened drinking. It is the right time for a deliberate search for revelational knowledge of our Lord God through Jesus Christ. It is time to let God shake off all your traditional beliefs. This level is a reward for the former: deepening access is a reward for cleansed confessed sins. Alas, many men in our generation have been tricked out of progression in possession of this precious portion. We have so many today who exhale more than they inhaled of Jesus and exude nothing but contaminated omen, that is, imbalanced truths about Jesus. How alone by the breath of His Spirit can we worship in truth! Therefore, be an imitator of what is good!

Dear old convert, were you once so thirsty for the knowledge of your Master and are now diverted; your erstwhile holy dissatisfaction drowned by distraction? Have the cares of life robbed you of your longing for God? It may be a good time to pray for restoration of your first love: for on this hinge every inch of spiritual growth. No branch ever produces fruit severed from the stem of a tree. There is an automatic flow of sap from the root. Hence, the consequent speedy dryness that follows. Drink deep by devotion. Drink deep by singing psalms; drink deep by living in the scriptural lights you have received; drink deep by obedience; drink deep by being faithful at your post; drink deep by praying. It may be a good time to fast since obviously your thirst cannot be sustained because the Bridegroom has been taken away. You may as well rechannel your fasting prowess. Redirect it from fasting for the ephemerals to the restoration of the joy of your salvation. Because the joy of having the bridegroom around has dissipated.

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Odunayo Rotimi
WRITTEN BY
Odunayo Rotimi