The Well

Wells are prominent in Scripture.

In Genesis 24 Abraham sends his senior servant to get a wife for Isaac from among his relatives. In Genesis 24:15 he meets Rebekah at a well.

In Genesis 29 Jacob goes to Paddan Aram to escape Esau and to find a wife among his mother’s family. In Genesis 29:9 Jacob meets Rachel at a well.

In Exodus 2 Moses flees Egypt and goes to Midian. In Exodus 2:16 Moses meets Zipporah his future wife at a well.

In John 4, Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Judea to Galilee. They stopped at a well in the Samaritan village of Sychar. Jesus encountered a woman. This woman was an immoral Samaritan woman. Jesus shared with her the truth about who she was and who He was. The woman gave her life to Jesus and many in the village did also.

All these encounters happened at a well.

What does the well represent?

It represents a place where we can come and get our needs meet.

When Abraham’s servant went to the well, his need was to fulfill the mission that his master had sent him on, and he did.

When Jacob went to the well, he needed to find a place of security and acceptance, and he found it.

When Moses went to the well, he needed a family and a place to live, and he found.

When Jesus went to the well at Sychar, He didn’t need anything but the woman needed to find love and purpose, and she found it.

There are two keys to finding what we need at the well.

The first key is that we have to go to the well.

We can have needs and even realize we have needs, but if we don’t go to the well, our needs will go unmet and unsatisfied.

For years I struggled with fear. I was the most fearful of failing. I was sure that at every church I served I would be fired and told to leave. The thought of not being successful from the world’s viewpoint was truly terrifying to me. There were many nights where I didn’t sleep because of this fear.

That fear all came to a head when the church I was pastoring was calling two new pastoral staff members. The calling of these men presented the real possibility of splitting the church. It looked like I would be asked to leave. I went to the well and cried out to God for help. God supplied not only what I needed, but He delivered me from my fear of failure.

I know that, short of me going to the well, I would still be living, or should I say surviving, with this fear.

At the well, needs are meet by our all-powerful, loving, creating, redeeming God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is going to God and asking and then watching Him meet our need.

The second key is admitting our needs.

We as followers of Jesus many times find it hard to admit our needs.

We think that we should not have needs as followers of Jesus.

We think that having needs shows weakness.

We think that having needs shows a lack of faith.

We think that having needs will disappoint others.

These are lies that Satan tells us.

The truth is that every person, follower of Jesus or not, has needs.

Needs are things that God uses to try to draw us to Him.

When the people in Scripture came to the well, their needs were met and their lives were changed and God used them in ways He could not have if they had not come to the well.

When we admit our needs to God, it allows Him to meet our needs.

Jesus said that it was not a healthy person who needed a doctor but a sick person. He came to call the sinner, not the self-righteousness.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is admitting your needs and bringing them to God.

So what is the well? The well is not a what; the well is a Who.

The well is Jesus. Jesus is the one, the only one who can meet your needs. But notice something about all these wells in Scripture. They all had other people around them. They were not isolated from a community. They were at the center of a community. One of the big ways that Jesus meets your needs is through the Body of Christ, the church.

I love many of Casting Crowns songs. One of my favorites is their song The Well.

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind,

Leave it all behind

I have what you need

But you keep on searching

I’ve done all the work

But you keep on working

When you’re running on empty

And you can’t find the remedy

Just come to the well

You can spend your whole life

Chasing what’s missing

But that emptiness inside

It just ain’t going to listen

When nothing can satisfy

And the world leaves you high and dry

Just come to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their soul longs for

The world will try, but it can never fill

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

So bring Me your heart

No matter how broken

Just come as you are,

When your last prayer is spoken

Just rest in my arms a while

You’ll feel the change My child

When you come to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their souls long for

The world will try, but it can never fill,

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

Yeah

Leave it all behind

The world will find, but it can never fill, leave it all behind

And now that you are full

Of love beyond measure

Your joy’s gonna flow,

Like a stream in the desert

Soon all the world will see that living water is found in Me

Cause you came to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their souls long for

The world will try, but it can never fill

So leave it all behind, and come to the well

Leave it all behind, leave it all behind

Leave it all behind, leave it all behind.

Jesus is our well and is the source to fill all our needs.

Coming to the Well and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                Joe