ODJ: prized
December 24, 2011
Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He possibly be the Messiah? (v.29).
READ: John 4:1-29
When I was a child, my parents had a rule that I was not allowed to call boys. Considered unfashionable back then, the rule seems positively archaic according to current social norms. While I am not new to youth culture, I am increasingly perplexed and concerned at the level of aggressiveness I see in young women today. As they’re desperate to belong to someone, young women feel little reservation in approaching or befriending guys of whom they know little. However loneliness can sometimes be experienced even in relationship.
The well known story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well reminds us that His omniscience doesn’t diminish His love for us—it deepens it. While we don’t know her upbringing, we know that the woman lived in a society where her sense of identity, value, and provision came from her connection to a male (either through marriage or motherhood). Sadly, this woman had been married not just once but five times and had grown desperate enough simply to cohabitate with a man (John 4:17-18). Five marriages and a relationship of cohabitation had left her only more alone.
Knowing us more fully than we know ourselves, Jesus went to the root issues in her life. He understood that she needed to know that she could be known in all of her failings and still be loved (Romans 5:8). Yet He also addressed her man-made attempts to find satisfaction. To find restoration, she had to see the truth of where her decisions had brought her—moving from man to man, desperate to belong to someone.
She could have mouthed many excuses for delaying a decision; she could have tried to justify what she had done. Yet having encountered Jesus, she now had a choice—water from her well or Jesus’ living water. —Regina Franklin
When have you settled for less than God’s best out of fear of missing out on something? How will you go deeper into God’s well of provision today?
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