My family and I were watching a movie about the story of Moses. There were many scenes in the movie that were not aligned scripturally, but we continued watching. After the movie ended, we began to discuss it and talked about when Moses met his wife, Zipporah, at the well. I was reminded of the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from Jacob’s well, and Jesus asked her for a drink. She was surprised that he asked this of her, because he was Jewish, and customarily, Jews in Jesus’ time despised the Samaritans. The Samaritans were thought to have muddied the laws of Moses by mixing them with all kind of superstitions; they watered down what the Jews held sacred. In John 4:9, she asked Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” What happened next not only demonstrates the Master’s tremendous compassion and love for all, but it shows us that when the right question is asked, it can be answered in the most phenomenal way.
It cannot be lost on us that throughout his life, Jesus Christ continually received revelation knowledge from Heavenly Father. Jesus sought the Will of God, and God kept him completely informed of it. Jesus knew those that would be saved and transformed when they had no idea of it themselves. We sometimes incorrectly assume that he didn’t have a plan, or didn’t move strategically, but his steps were perfectly ordered by God, and when you and I move in him, so are ours. It was no coincidence that Jesus was at this well, and it was no coincidence that the Samaritan woman was there too. It was all according to God’s Will and Plan. Heavenly Father had written the Samaritan woman’s destiny. He appointed the time of her birth so that her life would be changed that day with Jesus at the well.
Something within the Samaritan woman’s spiritual DNA was triggered when she crossed paths with the Master. Make no mistake, we all have the spiritual DNA of our purpose operating within. No doubt when this woman left her home to fetch water for her family, she considered it a day like any other. There was probably no deviation from her usual routine, but Heavenly Father can take even the most mundane things in life and flip them into the miraculous. We often go on about the business of our days, not considering at all that the unveiling of our destinies will rock our worlds in an amazing way. Many of us stopped believing in this a long time ago because the enemy tricks us through distractions and disappointments, but we must understand that there’s a fuse inside us just waiting to be ignited.
After the woman inquired why he had asked her, of all people, for a drink of water, Jesus Christ replied in John 4:10(NLT), “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” Imagine meeting someone you’ve never met before, and this person offers you something you’ve never had before. You might not know quite how to respond, and you might also relegate it to the “too good to be true” category. Even so, whenever we hear someone speak of something promising, somewhere in our hearts, wheels start turning. This is what happened to the woman at the well. The thought of having a kind of water that would prevent the daily toil of fetching and carrying it back to the village would have been a game changer for her. Even without the slightest scrutiny, she entertained that it could be possible.
What about us? What if someone said to you, “I have a friend that wants to meet you very much. He’s saved, financially stable, intelligent, compassionate, loving, hard-working, loyal, and handsome.” Even if you think there’s no way a man with a package containing all those characteristics is about to step into your life that easily, you can’t help but to entertain it. Odds are that your next step is to dig a little deeper. Even though a big part of you isn’t buying in, you still want to question the person who proposed this introduction. You want to find out if there’s even the slightest chance that the person making the introduction is on the up-and-up, and if the man they described is the answer to your prayers.
We are wired by God, our Creator, to trust in the wonderful. The challenges and tribulations of life sometimes shroud it, but underneath the pain of the disappointments that we’ve suffered is still the willingness to believe in the extraordinary. Many of us have been tricked before, especially those who have endured the hurt of broken relationships and have fallen for men that have not held up their end of the bargain. The thing is, we thought they had living water, and we refused to hold ourselves accountable for trying to drink from an empty well.
Jesus Christ doesn’t offer us empty promises. He’s the Real Deal! The living water that he gives us will quench our thirst for an entire eternity. Have we responded to this magnanimous gift with the same zeal as the possibility of meeting a new man? The record of the woman at the well begs us to examine ourselves, because the spark we’re missing can’t be ignited by a new beau or boo. Sure, we might be happy for a few weeks or months, but that excitement, like all things in the world, soon wanes. Of course, Heavenly Father wants to bless every person that desires to be married with a loving and supportive spouse. He wants this more for us than we want it for ourselves, but just as Jesus Christ knew everything about the woman and her promiscuous past, He knows about our past as well. He knows when deep in our hearts, we are not treasuring and honoring the things of God the way we should. We’re not as excited about His living water as we are about other things.
John 4:23-26(NLT) lets us in on the conversation that continued between our Lord and Savior and the Samaritan woman. This passage says, “23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I AM the Messiah!”” Here was a woman that saw sin as her ticket to happiness, and yet our Lord and Savior had compassion and revealed his identity to her. Initially, she asked why he had chosen her to ask for a drink, and the answer is revealed to all of us in God’s Word. Jesus wants us to recognize that our greatest need isn’t marriage or a relationship with a significant person. It is to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s to worship God in Spirit and in truth, and to realize that only He can fill our cups with living water. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“The Spark We’re Missing” written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.