Opening Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for walking with us through this whole week. Help us see how all your words fit together like pieces of one big story. Amen.
This Week’s Readings
All week long, we heard about water. Let’s remember what happened each day.
Monday — Exodus 17:1-7. God’s people were stuck in the desert, dying of thirst. They yelled at Moses and said, “God must not care about us!” But God stood on a rock, let it be struck with the staff of judgment, and water came pouring out for everyone.
Tuesday — Psalm 95. We heard a joyful song that turned serious. “Come, let’s shout and sing to the Lord!” — and then God spoke one important word: “Today.” Today, if you hear my voice, don’t let your heart dry up and get hard. Keep it soft and listening.
Wednesday — Romans 5:1-11. Paul told us that while we were still enemies of God — not just weak, not just messy, but enemies — Jesus died for us anyway. And God poured his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Not a trickle. A flood.
Thursday — John 4:5-42. Jesus walked to a well on purpose to find a woman nobody else wanted to talk to. He said, “The water I give becomes a spring inside you that never runs dry.” She believed him, dropped her water jar, and ran to tell the whole town.
What This Means
Here is a question for you: Who went looking for who?
On Monday, did the people go looking for God? No. They complained and said, “Is the LORD even with us?” But God came to the rock and gave them water anyway.
On Tuesday, did the people go looking for God? The psalm says they should have — but they hardened their hearts instead. And still, God kept speaking. “Today,” he said. He didn’t stop calling.
On Wednesday, did we go looking for God? Paul says we were his enemies. We weren’t looking for God at all. But “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
On Thursday, did the woman go looking for Jesus? She just went to get water, the same thing she did every day. But Jesus went out of his way to sit at that well and wait for her.
Do you see the pattern? Every single time, God is the one who comes looking for us.
We don’t find God. God finds us. He found Israel in the desert. He found the psalmist’s hard heart. He found his enemies and died for them. He found a lonely woman at a well.
And he found you. In your Baptism, God came looking for you and poured his water on your head. He said your name and called you his own. You didn’t do anything to earn it. You were small, and he was big, and he came and got you.
That’s what this whole week has been about. Not our thirst — but God’s gift. Not our searching — but his finding. Not our goodness — but his love that comes to us while we’re still thirsty, still hard-hearted, still enemies, still alone.
Let’s Talk About It
Eberley: In every reading this week, God came to people who weren’t looking for him — or were even running the other direction. Why do you think that matters? What would be different if the Bible said we have to find God first?
Eberley: Paul says we were “helpless,” then “sinners,” then “enemies.” The woman at the well was an outcast. Israel was ready to stone Moses. None of them deserved help. How does the theology of the cross — God working through weakness and unlikely places — show up in all four readings?
Sonja: Who went looking for who in each story? Did the people find God, or did God find the people? Can you think of a time God found you when you weren’t even looking?
Sonja: The woman ran to tell the whole town about Jesus. If you could tell one person what we learned this week, what would you say?
Dahlia & Freddy: Does God wait for us to be good before he helps us? Who came to find the woman at the well — did she find Jesus, or did Jesus find her?
Remember This
We don’t find God — God finds us, and he brings the water with him.
Closing Prayer
Dear God, thank you for coming to find us every single day this week. Thank you for water from a rock, for your voice that still speaks today, for love poured into our hearts when we were your enemies, and for Jesus who sits at the well and waits for thirsty people. We didn’t find you. You found us. And you keep finding us — in the Bible, in Baptism, and at your Table. Keep coming, Lord. We are yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Memory Verse
“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:8