"If you take the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
Isaiah 58:9b-10
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Good morning once again, ladies! Let's begin with prayer.........
"Father, thank You for the promises of Your word. Thank You for being our guide and the satisfaction of our souls. Please say to our souls that You are our salvation forever.
I seek forgiveness of my sins this morning that I may hear from You. I pray for cleansing and that you will blot out my transgressions against You. Fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit. May it overflow to my home and family.
I pray for each lady here reading this lesson. I pray that You will fill her with Your peace today. As she goes about her day, I pray that You will bring verses of scripture to her heart and remind her that You are there. I pray that You will be the God Who Sees her where she is and go to her with encouragement.
In Jesus' name..........amen."
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Please read:
Gen 16:5-16
"Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness....."
In this portion of scripture, we are familiarized with Hagar's plight amidst Sarai's anger. Poor Hagar was taken from Egypt to be the maidservant of Sarai and then given to Abram to be his wife.
Now we see how Sarai's jealousy and impatience has caused her to inflict harsh words upon Hagar.
But the Lord had plans for Hagar and her offspring. The Lord remembered and saw Hagar.
As a tribute to the Lord, Hagar named the God of the Hebrews:
You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees
Since she was once a pagan who worshiped animals and statues as gods, she is amazed at how the Hebrew God actually found her, spoke to her, and listened to her. So, she is moved to name Him.
God sees us when we feel at our loneliest. The Samaritan woman is about to realize this too....
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John 4:11
"The woman said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?"
We see here that the woman takes what Jesus said literally....as did the Jewish leaders and Nicodemus:
Please read:
John 2:19-21
John 3:3-10
"....We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness."
She is beginning to wonder about that Living Water that Jesus introduced- the Spirit of Grace that runs eternal.
Jesus can and will give the Spirit to those the Father brings to Him:
John 6:65
"..Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.'
As Dr. RC Sproul likes to point out, remember how when we were in school and we asked the teacher "Can I go to the restroom?" and how did she answer? "I don't know, can you? You may go to the restroom...."
"May" implies permission. "Can" implies the ability to do something.
Jesus didn't say, "No one may come to Me..." as though they needed permission from God.
Jesus said, "No one can come to Me...." which means that no one has the ability to come to Jesus without it being granted by God the Father.
God is giving the Samaritan woman the ability to come to Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.
"...Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep..."
So many times we assume God needs us to do His work. So many times we assume God needs what we have in order to get that work done.
Here the woman assumes Jesus needs her vessel, her pot, to draw water from the deep well. If Jesus were merely a man, then yes He would need her pot. But Jesus is God and He is eternal. There is no need in an eternal being.
How often does the church today assume this as well? PowerPoint presentations on big screens, praise bands, live dramas, certain kinds of music......does God really need all this to bring people to Himself?
Please read:
Luke 8:11
John 1:1
John 8:51
John 17:17
Rom 10:17
1 Cor1:23
Eph 1:13
Eph 5:26
1Thess 2:13
1 Tim 4:4-5
2 Tim 4:2
1 Pet 2:1-3
Preach the word! That's all that is needed in churches today. Just preach the word of God and watch Him divide like the rivers of water divide.....
Pragmatism has began to corrupt the church. Our worship services have become more about pleasing man and entertaining man rather than about worshiping God and pleasing God. We need to return to the word of God.
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Life Application
"Where then do You get that living water?"
The Lord Jesus knows His sheep. He certainly knew the Samaritan woman. He knew that she was going from man to man searching to have her "thirst" quenched. He knew she would come to the well at an odd hour instead of when the other women came to draw water.
There is no hiding from God.
Please read:
Gal 6:7
We cannot hide our sinful ways from the Lord.
Gal 6:8
Jesus is about to save this poor woman from herself. I love this story because it mirrors my own story of redemption. I, too, was searching for my "thirst" and hunger to be satisfied. Even though I knew Jesus, I didn't stay in His word and decided to go my own way and draw my own water with my own pot.
But the Lord broke my pot and brought me to Himself.
1 John 1:6-7
I walked in darkness for 3 years and did not practice truth. But the Lord called me out of the darkness and into His light. And, like the Samaritan woman, He gave me that living water.
The blood of Jesus cleansed us from all sin. Our sin had to be dealt with.
During the Jewish festival the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) the water drawing ceremonies commemorate the provision of water, by God, in the desert.
Num 20:2-13
There is also a lamp lighting ceremony to commemorate how God appeared as a fire in the night sky to guide them.
During Jesus' ministry, He appeared in Jerusalem during the last day of the Feast while the water drawing ceremony was beginning.
John 7:37-30
How wonderful that Jesus used this time to tell His people that only He can quench their thirst. That it was He who gave their ancestors life in the wilderness. That is was He who was there as the light guiding them. That He is the reason for the commemoration....and now He is with them in their midst. Yet many did not believe.
John 7:40-44
We must remember who Jesus is and what He has done for us. He is the light shining that separated light from darkness.
2 Cor 4:6
He is the river of life that waters Eden and will water the New Jerusalem once again. He was the water that spewed from the rock and saved His people in the wilderness. He is both our fountain of living water and our Rock.
Praise Him indeed!!!
And see Him as He really is.
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Until next time.........
"The way Christ defeated death and disease was by taking them on himself and carrying them with him to the grave. God's judgment on the sin that brought disease was endured by Jesus when he suffered and died. The prophet Isaiah explained the death of Christ with these words: "He was wounded for our transgression; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). The horrible blows to the back of Jesus bought a world without disease."
-John Piper
(The Passion of Jesus Christ, 2004, p. 55)
Blessings,
Ruth
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