"The woman said, `You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep'" (John 4:11).

We stand by the well of life with our pitifully small containers, knowing that the well is too deep for us to perceive. We lower and lower our broken cisterns into the world's offerings of so-called wisdom. When we find the well is muddy and putrid, we look around for another who has a larger and more intact pitcher, and more knowledge of where to look for who possibly can help us. Again we are frustrated; our brothers and sisters are just as uncertain and unsteady as we are. Finally we lose faith and patience, for at last we realize that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 1:20).

Then one day there stands beside us One who understands all things: our griefs, our sins, our hopes and our dashed hopes. There we are with our skimpy bucket ready to draw again from a well that will not quench our dryness, and yet we still question and cavil and we say to Jesus, "What do You have to draw with? I don't see anything. I can't have faith in You to quench this awful thirst for something better in my life, for I can't see what You have." How sad!

"Suppose there is a well of fathomless trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says, `Let not your heart be troubled'; and you shrug your shoulders and say, `But, Lord, the well is deep; You cannot draw up quietness and comfort out of it'" (Oswald Chambers). Jesus must weep that we have such a difficult time believing that He has the means to dip into the well of life and to draw up for us His sustaining graces. And His water doesn't just keep us alive; it makes us alive to all His blessings.