Wells.

Recently, I’ve been reading through the Gospel according to John, and as always, it carries quite the punch. It is not a linear/chronological narrative. If we say that Matthew was centered on the Jesus in Prophecy, John was centered on the Revelation of Jesus.

However, I am not intending on doing an overview of the gospel of John. I simply want to turn our attention to half of a verse in the fourth chapter.

[5] Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

[6] Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

John 4:5-6 (KJV)

This is the part right here: Now Jacob’s well was there.

This is an interesting sentence. He was describing for us the scene and the setting that will come to define an encounter. Now Jacob’s well was there.

“Now”:

John was tying a historic place to a present-day action. He could have communicated that same thing, later on in the verse by mentioning that Jesus sat by a well, which happened to be the well that Jacob built.

But you see, there was nothing about Sychar that John felt would have informed Jesus’ choice of the city, if not for the simple reason that Jacob’s well was there. It was a deep prophetic nod to the Patriarch.

“Jacob’s well was there”:

This well had been in existence for over one thousand years, yet the identity did not change. There might have been contentions at different times, but when the dust settled, it would still be Jacob’s well.

This reminded me of building solid convictions, convictions that stand the test of the passage and pressure of time. Jacob’s well was there. Can you imagine how deep a well needed to have been for it to remain relevant after a thousand years?

And not merely deep but strategic, in that it opened into the water bed. It was connected to an unending source and an unending supply. He probably dug it at the height of a season of drought.

The well was there.

For some of us, though we are still alive, our walk with God is already historical. We have a whole lot of ‘then’ and a little ‘now’. Or perhaps our wells are seasonal, and only personal. In dry, difficult seasons, we run out. We become empty; there but not in any relevant way.

How do we rectify this? It’s to dig deep.

Dig deep into the Word. Deep into the source of the Fountain of Life. Into the Rock, the spiritual rock that housed water for the children of Israel, the rock that is Christ. None other than Him. A personal decision to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A decision to spare nothing until the very life of Christ becomes outworked in us, in all His fullness by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

In the days ahead of us, when we think of our lives, what will be the report of our wells? Will they still be there or will they just serve historic purposes?

“Now Jacob’s well was there.”