When we were in the Holy Land we got to visit Jacob's Well where Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink and offered her "living water." Jacob's well is in a Greek Orthodox church at Nablus in the West Bank. We were told it is considered the most authentic site in the Holy Land since no one can move a well that was originally more than 130 feet deep. A masonry structure surrounds the mouth of the well. Standing on top is a metal-framed pulley with a coil of rope long enough to reach the water. We were able to use the pulley and get a taste of the cool water! Obviously, that was before any of us had heard of Covid!
As I am leading a young women's Bible study for my daughter and some of her friends, I am amazed at how appropriate this story of the woman at the well is for today. People are so thirsty for something and some probably do not know what they are thirsty for. We are living in hard, sad, uncertain times and we cannot do this life alone. We are all in need of help.
I love how God uses our physical appetite to teach us about spiritual things. He knows the way to my heart IS through my stomach! John 4: 31-34, "In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, 'Rabbi, eat.' But He said to them, 'I have food to eat of which you do not know.'
Therefore the disciples said to one another, 'Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?' Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.'"
The fields are ripe for harvest. We should all be sharing our stories of how good God has been in our life. John 4: 35-38, "Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
Many of the Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. John 4: 31: 39, "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” She moved forward, becoming a teacher. Not with books but by sharing what God had done in her life. She was full of joy and she had to share. Her heart was changed and her mission was to share Jesus. Acts 20: 24, "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
Wonder why the woman at the well never had a name we heard? She is known as the woman at the well. She is known as being with many men and living with the last one. I bet God wanted us to see that this "no name" person walked away leaving behind her water pot and her shame. And she became a disciple for God and has been known for many, many years! Thank You, God, for loving us no matter how sinful we are. Thank You for forgiving us. Thank You for using ALL of us to enrich Your Kingdom!
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