This Week's Focal Passage:
"Jesus answered and said to her, "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." John 4:10
Have you ever had your heart shattered? Has someone you loved ever rejected you? Perhaps you have experienced the pain of being abandoned by a person or people you never thought would leave you. Maybe you have made decisions that lead to disappointment or despair. If so, you are not alone. Join me in looking deep into the pages of Scripture to see one young woman who experienced the same thing and how she overcame her circumstances and ended up with a brand new heart and a brand new life!!!
Some important background information: Samaritans were the remnants of the northern Jews who had been taken into captivity. They had intermarried thus the Jews believed they had corrupted their bloodline and were unclean people. The Jews hated the Samaritans and refused to interact with the Samaritans. As a result, the Samaritans hated the Jews. The Samaritans built an alternate temple on Mount Gerizim and rejected the Old Testament teaching except for a revised version of the first five books. Because of this, the Samaritans had a limited understanding of the God of Scripture.
Imagine standing at the well in the middle of the day. You are alone, hot, and probably feeling like an outcast. The women of the city had already come for their water and visited together during their morning chore. You, however, were not permitted to join them because you were considered "unclean" because of your sorted past. This is where the woman at the well stood when Jesus approached her. Imagine her surprise when Jesus spoke to her. Her surprise was multifaceted. First, Jesus was a Jew and Jews NEVER spoke to Samaritans. Second, Jesus was a Jewish man and Jewish men never spoke to women in public not even their wives. Thirdly, Jesus asked her for a drink of water. This may not seem odd to us, but in that day, the Jews believed that the saliva of a Samaritan would infect the Jew and make him/her unclean. Yet, Jesus reached out to this young woman and initiated a conversation.
Because Jesus loved her and began speaking with her, HE was able to minister to the very heart of her issue - sin. This young woman needed a Savior and she needed internal cleansing. She needed a new heart - a heart that was surrendered to God. Her entire life she had sought love, acceptance, value, worth, and a purpose in men. Yet Scripture tells us that she was married five times and was now living with another man that she was not married too. God's Word always gives critical information and we must learn to dig deep so we do not miss anything God wants us to learn. Part of diving deep into Scripture is understanding the culture and customs of that time. In that day, women were not allowed to divorce her husband but the husband could at anytime divorce his wife. With that bit of information, we see another side to this young woman. She had loved five men and they had all rejected her. Now, she was with another man who would not marry her. Can you imagine the pain and brokenness this young woman must have experienced?!?! I certainly can! There are many different heartaches we can/will experience in our lifetime. Each one is painful and at times can be life altering.
One of my favorite chapters in Scripture is John 4. I have always been able to identify with the woman at the well and each time I study this passage I find a new way in which I relate to her. Allow me to share a personal story with you. My heart has been shattered twice in my life. Absolutely, I have felt pain and loss many times over my lifetime, but what I am referring to right now are two specific instances where my heart was so broken I truly never thought I would recover. Both times involved rejection, abandonment, humiliation, alienation, wrong choices and the loss of relationships that involved people I loved very deeply. The first time, my flesh screamed for relief and I sought that relief in and of this world. I did not turn to the Lord God but turned from Him because a part of me tried to blame God for allowing me to suffer. What I did not understand at that time was that God was allowing me to suffer the consequences of sin in order to restore me to Himself.
God's heart for me was never to suffer, but because I had rebelled against Him and His Word, HE allowed the pain into my life to draw me to Himself. Now, to our flesh, that sounds ridiculous. Some may even say, "Well, I have children and I would do anything to protect them from pain!" But, My Friend, we have to understand that God is holy and HE cannot accept sin in His children's lives. What I have learned is that because of His holiness, His love, His grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness, HE lovingly sifts those consequences through His hand and only allows what is absolutely necessary to draw our hearts back to Him.
Years later, my heart was shattered once again. This time, however, I chose to turn to the Lord God and seek Him in the midst of my pain. God used a number of our church family to minister to me in ways that truly pointed me to the cross. Through the pain, I was able to learn more about God's grace, mercy, unconditional love, and forgiveness. I have also experienced God in entirely new ways. HE is my friend who is ALWAYS faithful. HE is my refuge in the midst of any storm. HE is my foundation that stands firm even when the winds of the storm seek to destroy me. HE is my healer who gave me a brand new heart. God is truly my contentment. There is no one or nothing that satisfies my soul, my heart, my life like Jesus Christ. Just like the woman at the well, I stand amazed that Jesus Christ approached a sinner like me. I am in awe that HE initiated a conversation within my soul that lead to my salvation. I needed the water that HE offered to this young Samaritan woman and Jesus Himself has quenched the desire in me to seek the things of this world.
Where are you standing today, My Friend? Are you standing, or trying to stand, in the midst of sin and self? Is your heart shattered? Have you made one bad choice after another? Are you at the "end of your rope"? Do you feel that your past is so vile, so sinful, so rebellious that Christ Jesus would not love you, accept you, heal you, restore you, cleanse you, or forgive you? If so, you are believing a LIE!! God's Word promises us that Christ came to heal the broken hearted, to set people free from sin and self, to comfort those who mourn, to give hope to the hopeless, to trade our sorrows for His joy, to remove the spirit of despair and depression, and to restore us in Him (see Isaiah 61:1-4). Christ Jesus can and will rebuild what our sin and rebellion destroyed. HE is able to fully cleanse us and give us a new heart, a new mind, and make us new creations (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). My Friend, God is faithful and HE loves you with an eternal love. HE offers you healing, forgiveness, restoration, mercy, grace and unconditional love, but you must fall before Him and confess your sin. Pour your heart out to Him and do not hold anything back.
Confessing sin is the first step. The second step is repenting from those sins. Repentance means that you agree to turn away from your past and not participating in those sins again. God's grace will sustain you and enable you to be faithful to the Lord God. You cannot have the world and God. You must choose who/what you will serve. Christ is standing at your "well" offering you eternal life in Him. Will you receive it? "Jesus answered and said to her, "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." (John 4:10)
