eyes, so David naturally exclaims, "My soul
_thirsts_ for the living God." In the living soul there is a craving for
that which maintains and revives its life, which is analogous to the
thirst of the body for water. The dead alone feel no thirst for God. The
soul that is alive sees for a moment the glory and liberty and joy of
the life to which God calls us; it feels the attraction of a life of
love, purity, and righteousness, but it seems continually to sink from
this and to tend to become dull and feeble, and to have no joy in
goodness. Just as the healthy body delights in work, but wearies and
cannot go on exerting itself for many hours together, but must repair
its strength, so the soul soon wearies and sinks back from what is
difficult, and needs to be revived by its appropriate refreshment.

And this woman, if for a moment she felt as if Christ were playing with
her or making her enigmatical offers that could never bring her any
substantial good, was immediately made aware that He who made these
offers had fully in view the harshest facts of her domestic life.
Mystified, she is also attracted and expectant. She cannot mistake the
sincerity of Jesus; and, scarcely knowing what she asks, and with her
mind still running on relief from her daily drudgery, she says, "Sir,
give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." In
prompt response to her faith Jesus says, "Go, call thy husband, and come
hither." The water which He means to give cannot be given before thirst
for it is awakened. And in order to awaken her thirst He turns her back
upon the shameful wretchedness of her life, that she may forget the
water of Jacob's well in thirst for relief from shame and misery. In
requiring her thus to face the facts of her guilty life, in encouraging
her to bring clear before Him all her sinful entanglement, He responds
to her request, and gives her the first draught of living water. For
there is no abiding spiritual satisfaction which does not begin with a
fair and frank consideration of our past, and which does not proceed
upon the actual facts of our own life. If this woman is to enter into a
hopeful and cleansed life, she must enter through confession of her need
of cleansing. No one can slink out of his past life, forgetting or
huddling up what is shameful. It is only through truth and
straightforwardness we can enter into that life which is all truth and
integrity. Before we drink the living water we mus