We often marvel at the divine nature of Jesus, “The Great I Am.” But have you ever stopped to consider His human side? The Bible tells us in John 4:5-6 that Jesus sat down at a well in Samaria. Why did He sit? Because He was tired. Yes, the same God who created the universe also experienced fatigue.

What if I told you that your exhaustion isn’t a sign of weakness but a stepping stone toward a greater calling? Jesus didn’t take the easy path; he took the one less traveled, which was laden with challenges but also ripe with purpose. Is your chosen path wearing you out? It may be because it is divinely designed to change not just your life but also the lives of those around you. As you will discover, often, it is our fatigue of something that drives us toward the rest God has for us all along.

The story below is my adaptation of the story found in John the fourth chapter of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. I have given this woman the name Sherah. The story is about a Samaritan woman who is thirsty for a change in her life. I hope this story will inspire you, whether you are a male or female.

Jesus Was Weary From the Journey But Focused on the Mission

Jesus, visibly fatigued from His six-hour trek, settled beside the well as the sun blazed overhead. His physical weariness was evident, but it was merely a faint echo of the deeper, spiritual exhaustion of the woman who was about to enter His life. This well, usually a simple source of water, was on the brink of becoming the stage for a divine encounter that would quench a different kind of thirst.

As the disciples went into the nearby town to buy food, Jesus waited. He knew that His Father had orchestrated this moment, and He was attuned to the spiritual significance that lay ahead. The woman who approached the well was not just another villager coming to draw water; she was a soul parched by years of searching for love, validation, and acceptance in all the wrong places.

The Thirst For Love and Acceptance

In the heat of the day, a lone figure emerged from town carrying a water pitcher. Sherah, a woman who had been forced to gather water for her home during midday to avoid the ridicule of the town’s women, headed towards the town’s well, which was on the outskirts of the town.

Sherah was tired of being tired. She was tired of being misunderstood, tired of being rejected, and tired of trying to fit in. Sherah had been desperately thirsty for love, validation, and acceptance all her life. Her childhood was filled with tragedy and abuse that left her wounded.

As a woman, life for her worsened. She had been married and divorced five times by men whom she hoped would love, validate, and value her. But one after another, they rejected and discarded her. In her society, women had no voice or power.

Sherah’s decision to live with but not marry the sixth man in her life drew even more scorned by the townspeople, even her own kin. She was ostracized by the women of the town, who saw her only as an adulteress and the worst of sinners.

Sherah longed for one person who cared enough to try and understand the hurts of her past and see her for who she really was inside. But there was no one.

Sherah was thirsty for real love, and her only hope was in the arrival of the promised Messiah that both Jews and Samaritans longed for. She believed that the Messiah would understand her like no other could. Shortly before her death, when Sherah was only six years of age, her mother told her of the Messiah who would one day come and not only free Jews and Samaritans from oppression but also liberate women from the oppression of those societies. It was the hope that kept Sherah going.

The Encounter At The Well

The scorching midday sun beat down as Sherah made her way to the well under the shadow of Mount Gerizim. She shielded her eyes against the harsh light, anxious to draw water quickly so she could return home. But as the well came into view, Sherah halted, dismayed to see a man sitting beside it. She hesitated, debating whether to turn back. Her thirst persuaded her so cautiously, and she proceeded to the well, praying in her heart to God for safety.

Sherah didn’t speak to or even look at the stranger. Neither did the stranger say anything to her. She lowered her pitcher into the well to gather water and then brought it back up. Little did she know, her life was about to change forever.

Jesus had patiently waited for Sherah to withdraw water from the well then. With a welcoming gaze, Jesus asked, “Will you give me a drink?”
A bit startled and intrigued, Sherah asked, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”
Jesus replied, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Curiosity piqued, Sherah inquired, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?”
Jesus spoke softly, his words filling the air with a celestial warmth, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Sherah’s heart pounded with excitement and a tinge of disbelief. Could it be true? Deep down, she sensed that Jesus spoke of more than just physical thirst. This living water he spoke of would not only eliminate her need to keep coming to the well, but it could also quench her spiritual thirst.

These words resonated within her, like a beautiful melody in her ears and a harmonious song in her heart. The stranger’s words stirred memories of her mother’s stories about the coming Messiah, which filled her with awe and wonder. As a child, Sherah would beg her mother to tell her more, closing her eyes and imagining the transformative impact of the kind yet mighty Messiah on her family and her people. Oddly enough, this stranger’s talk of living water intensified her yearning for the Messiah’s coming more than ever.

Snapping from her reverie, Sherah blurted out, sounding more desperately than she had intended, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Confronted But Not Judged With Truth

Reading her like an open book, Jesus probed into the concealed aspects of her life, asking her to call her husband—knowing she had none. When she said, “I have no husband,” Jesus responded compassionately, “You speak the truth. You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re with now is not your husband.”

Sherah felt exposed but not judged. For the first time, she felt really seen, and it was liberating. Although Jesus didn’t say it explicitly, his eyes and demeanor conveyed a simple, powerful message: “Sherah, I see you. You are more than your past and much more than your mistakes.”

Finding Love, Acceptance, and Validation

As they continued to converse, the transformation in Sherah was immediate and profound. Jesus had revealed to her that He was the Messiah, causing immense joy and excitement beyond Sherah’s ability to contain. The very one that she had longed for since she was a little girl was standing right in front of her. Jesus’ love for and acceptance of her, even after knowing everything about her, healed Sherah’s tormented soul and validated that she mattered. All those years of shame, humiliation, and rejection were washed away by His love.

The Seventh Man, A Place of Rest

No longer shackled by her past or confined by her mistakes, Sherah had tasted the living water Jesus offered—and her life would never be the same. Jesus, the seventh man in her life, became the most significant. In Him, Sherah found love, acceptance, and validation. And she knew that she would never thirst again for those things. Sherah laughed as she realized that she was no longer “tired of being tired,” for she had discovered the ultimate place of rest is in Jesus.
Sherah then realizes this place of rest is available to all who would place their trust in Jesus.

Spreading the Message of Jesus

Beaming with excitement knowing how long the people of the town had also been waiting for the Messiah, despite their ill-treatment of her, Sherah longed for them to feel what she felt. She dropped the water pitcher she was carrying and said to Jesus, “I am going to town and tell everybody about you!” Jesus laughed and said, “Good, I was counting on that! Tell them I said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NIV)