“I think I’m dehydrated,” I said recently, as I noticed how parched my skin felt. “I guess I need to put down the coffee and start drinking more water.” It was a small (though true) comment and I quickly forgot saying it. But as I read John 7 this week, I was reminded of my words again. John 7:37-38 says this:
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
Just like our bodies can be physically dehydrated, our souls can be dehydrated, too. We do live in a spiritually parched world, after all.
When we look at our own lives or the lives of those around us and notice things like…
- A nagging thirst for something more
- confusion about what really matters
- or dry, rote religion taking root where vibrant faith was meant to thrive…
…these just might be signs that our souls are in need of something spiritually vital. Thankfully, in this very passage, Jesus reveals how all such thirst can be quenched.
Two. Our thirsty souls are filled up when we receive from Jesus.
In verse 37, Jesus says, “‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!”
Notice, for a moment, what Jesus doesn’t say in that verse. He doesn’t say to go buy something new when you’re feeling thirsty for more. And likewise, He doesn’t say go “go to church” or “talk to a pastor” in such moments—though obviously, those things have great value. Instead, Jesus tells us to turn directly to Him. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
Jesus Himself is the Living Water. He is the One who quenches our deepest longings in this life and who gives us a new, eternal life with Him.
If you’ve never accepted Christ, Jesus’ words here are an invitation to come to Him and receive His salvation. But even if you’ve been a Christian for ages, the call to “come and drink” of Jesus still applies. Though we only need come to Jesus once for salvation, we are invited to come to Him over and over for more of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control. Everything we need, Jesus has. And what we need most of all is more of Him.
So, when you feel spiritually dry or when your priorities are confused and life feels hollow…where do you turn? What Source do you drink from, expecting it to fill you up again?
Let it be Jesus. Just like Jesus invited the crowd in John 7:37, He is inviting us today, “come to me and drink.” You know, to drink, in this context, means to receive. And this is, perhaps, the most important part of Jesus’ invitation to our thirsty souls.
If we walk to a water source, but don’t actually drink from it, that water will not quench our thirst or rehydrate our bodies. And likewise, if we spend time with Jesus (by reading Scripture, for example), but then reject what He says or fail to believe who He reveals Himself to be, then the thirst in our souls will not be quenched.
So, let’s not settle for just reading our Bibles. Let’s pray for the ability to receive, believe and apply all that Jesus shares with us in it. Let’s come to Jesus… and drink. Because in Him, we have “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) He is our water. He is what our spiritual health runs on.
TWO. Our thirsty world is drawn to Living Water when it sees the Spirit in us.
In verse 38, Jesus continues, “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” And the very next verse explains that He was referring to the Holy Spirit when He said this.
Every time I read this verse, it reminds me of Revelation 22. That last chapter in Scripture describes the new, restored garden of Eden, where the river of living water flows from God’s throne to the people. This is where we, as God’s people, will one day get to dwell and it is full of wholeness, purposeful work, and intimate relationship with our Maker. Reading Revelation 22 makes us long for Jesus to return and bring about this happy ending to history. But reading John 7:38 reminds us that, as Believers, our happy ending has actually already begun.
Jesus said, ““He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” The very same river of living water that will one day flow through the restored garden of Eden, is flowing through us today. The Holy Spirit, who lives within us, is that river of living water. So, though we still live in a parched and weary world, our souls can experience the restoration and thriving of heaven now.
- We can experience healing from the sins and scars that have chained us.
- We can experience meaning and purpose in our work.
- We can find wholeness as we let ourselves be loved by Jesus and then love Him in return.
This is the life-restoring flow of the Holy Spirit’s work in us. It’s what we desperately need—and it’s also what our parched world is thirsting for. You know, I love that Jesus says rivers of living water will flow “from within” believers. The Holy Spirit’s work isn’t something we can contain or keep to ourselves. It will naturally flow out of us and into the lives of others. As the Holy Spirit restores us, people will see the difference in us and they will want it for themselves.
So, what restoration or transformation do you long to see in your own soul—and in the lives of those around you? And how do the truths in this verse inspire you to surrender afresh to the work of the Holy Spirit in you?
His work is sometimes uncomfortable, but it is always restorative. And we can know for a fact that the Holy Spirit’s work in us will not end with us. It will flow outward to impact the lives of those around us.
So, whether we feel a bit spiritually dry ourselves or we feel grieved by the spiritual desert that is our world, there’s a simple solution: hydrate. We need to drink deeply from Jesus and surrender willingly to the Holy Spirit’s work in us.
As Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my 2025 reading plan: “A Year in the Gospels” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along! You can also learn more about my Scripture over Screentime experiment here.
Written by Paige K. Burhans
©2025 Paige K. Burhans
Scriptures taken from the World English Bible British Edition. Public Domain.
