John 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

There is no life in a desert place without water. All throughout the Old Testament we can see meaningful events played out around wells. Wells were so important that they were given names, historical names. Even this well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman had a name, Jacob’s Well.

Coming to a well without something to draw water puts us in a helpless position. You have to ask for help. There have been times in my life when I felt like I was in a dry and thirsty place within my soul. I’d go to the well, to get refreshed. I got to the point where I was hanging out at the water cooler, so to speak. The only people I met and talked to were fellow believers who like me, knew where to come to be refreshed.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

We are meant to be a wellspring to others. You cannot do that by hanging out at the water cooler. You have to go where people thirst.

Judges 15:19a But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout;

onomatopoeia

the state or condition of a word formed to imitate the sound of its intended meaning

If you read 15:19 in all the English version of the bible you will find varied text trying to describe what God did here. Hebrew is a complex language. Scholars try their best to sort out an accurate meaning to the ancient document as they translate it into other languages. The difficulties of understand perfectly comes from words that are written the same, have the same sound, but to the people of that era, to whom the passage was written held a specific historical meaning as it related to their circumstances.

The majority of readers will glaze over the words and find nothing significant to question. Others will look for hidden meaning, a message, perhaps try and build doctrine upon ambiguity. The mere fact that there are so many variations upon this verse should scream caution to us. It sounds like God is saying this. It sounds like God is saying that. It sounds like something altogether different. So what is the truth?

1 Corinthians 14:33a For God is not the author of confusion

I was not a Jew alive at the time that Sampson slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. I have no historical framework in which to picture the exact meaning. All I can say for sure is that Sampson cried out to God for water and God answered his prayer.

When you cry out to God for help, do you really care how God answers your prayer? I don’t and I don’t think Sampson did either. But there will be people who seem to care what it sounds like. If there weren’t we wouldn’t have so many different variations of the text. Do not allow naysayers to use these differences to weaken your faith.

Job 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?