Hey there! I am so glad that you are joining us! You are in the company of hundreds of other women from across the country who together will look deeply into God’s word, and discover the love of the Father through the encounters of His Son.
In this particular series, we will walk through the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well outlined in John 4. Each week, we will build on the Truths we discuss the week before. You can read week 1 here. So, invite a girlfriend! There will be no shortage of hope or encouragement here.
He was the last person she expected to meet that day.
She could see Him while she was still a ways off. He was sitting at the well no differently than many other weary travelers who had crossed her path. A Jew, she could tell by His clothes.
At least He wouldn’t bother her. After all, what business does a Jew have with a Samaritan?
As she lowered the empty pot from her head, He spoke. “Give Me a drink.”
She paused and looked around for a moment. He’s not talking to me. Is He? She quickly replied, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”
A smile must have lit across His face. A smile wider than the one He wore as she approached. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”
And there in the hot sun, in the middle of her day, she encountered the Messiah.
She wasn’t one who should have ever met him. Her family wasn’t anything to be proud of. Many generations before, the Jewish blood she should have inherited was diluted by other tribes. As her ancestors intermarried among those with her other gods, their hearts were also diluted by pagan worship. They had excluded themselves from the promises of the Law and the Messiah, but they still had a remnant of knowledge. They knew the Messiah was coming, but He wouldn’t be for them.
The Samaritan woman understood all of this. She knew exactly where she stood in the eyes of a Jewish man. His rejection and disgust wouldn’t be anything new. Those were two things she knew well.
After all, she was there in the middle of the day for a reason. She had been married five times. A number of reasons could have made this true, but none of them brought her any social acceptance. She was likely known, and the things people said about her couldn’t have been very nice.
She knew where she stood in the eyes of her community. And more so, she knew where she stood in the eyes of this man at the well.
Or did she? She had been taught about the coming Messiah, but would she know Him when she saw Him? Did she know that instead of excluding her from His love, she would be used to advance His kingdom? Could she have possibly known that He would bring her the love and acceptance she hadn’t experienced?
We are rarely prepared for a face to face encounter with Jesus, and it is typically nothing like we imagined. Perhaps we like to think that we would throw ourselves at His feet. We would do whatever He asked of us.
But the Samaritan woman spoke to Jesus face and face, and her first act wasn’t to leap into obedience. The Messiah made a simple request of her, and instead of jumping to His service, she questioned, “Me?”
“Are you sure you have the right girl, God? I mean do you know who I am? Do you REALLY know who you are asking? Because I am pretty sure that if you knew who I really was, you would choose someone else.”
We are so quick to exclude ourselves from the call of Christ. There is someone who doesn’t have the past that I do, who hasn’t been through what I have, who is less messed up. There is someone more qualified. There is someone more equipped. There is someone else who is more prepared.
How is it that You, ask something of me?
But just like the Samaritan woman, who we believe ourselves to be in the eyes of God doesn’t change what God asks us to do. Our heritage doesn’t exclude us. Our past doesn’t exclude us. What we were doing before we met Him face to face doesn’t exclude us. Nothing disqualifies us from the call of Christ.
He sees us as worthy. He sees us as valuable. His list of qualifications is much different from ours.
Because it is our past, our position, and our experiences that perfectly position us to be used by Him. No one else can fulfill the call of God for your life like you can. You are completely equipped to be used by the Father to complete the work that He has called you to do. He continually extends an invitation. How will you respond?
1.) Often, we think that God only uses certain types of people, even though Scripture is full of examples where God used even the most unlikely person. What are some things from your life that make your opportunity to serve Christ unique?
2.) Jesus asked the woman for a drink of water. Sometimes it is hard to do even the simplest things that God asks us to. Has the Lord ever asked something specific of you? What was your response?
3.) Begin a daily recital of this truth. “I am perfectly equipped through Jesus to do whatever He asks of me. My past doesn’t disqualify me. My opportunity is unique. I will look for the Messiah, and prepare my heart to say, ‘Yes!’ to His request.”
Father, we love you and want to know you more. We thank you that you desire to make yourself known to us! We thank you for your Son, and for the opportunity to know you through Him. Lord, help us to look for Him in our daily lives even the ordinary moments. Help us to see ourselves as not only worthy to speak with Him, but worthy enough to be used by Him. I ask that we wouldn’t be like children who make excuses. I pray that you would make our hearts eager and ready to serve you. Thank you for seeing us in love. Thank you for rescuing us out of our lives and giving us purpose. We will be faithful to the call that you have given each of us. I ask that we would encounter you this week in a way that we haven’t ever before, and that we would be ready to do whatever it is you ask us to do. We love you, Lord! It is in the name of your Son, Jesus, that we ask these things!
