The Living Water-Lesson Twenty-Two

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance

of faith, having our hearts sprinkled

from an evil conscience and our

bodies washed with pure water."

Hebrews 10:22

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Let's seek the Lord in prayer...

"Father God, this day I come to You and seek Your name among many names. I know that Your name heals, comforts, and renews me. I praise You and thank You for the washing of pure water. You alone are worthy of our adoration and our worship.

I ask forgiveness of my sins today. I know that I have often put my trust in the practical and pragmatic ways of this world. I know that I have let anxiety and fear take over my emotions. I pray that You will forgive me and wash me clean this day.

I pray for the ladies reading this study. I pray that they will seek You earnestly today. I pray that they will set aside time to worship You and cast all their cares upon You.

In Jesus' name..........amen."

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John 4:28

"The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men..."

Pragmatism

Using what works because we know it works: that's practicality.

The only problem is, how do we know "it" works at all?

The Samaritan woman came to the well to draw her own water as she must have done daily. She brought her own waterpot to use for the well was deep. As we have been studying here, we know that this way of life had worked for her so far: marrying men, coming to the well at an odd hour so as not to see the women, trusting in the religion of her people, hoping on the arrival of the Messiah.

Until now...for she had met someone new. A man who did not tell her some things, but He told her all the things of her life. A Jewish man who did not refuse her or reject her, this man spoke with her and asked her for a drink.

Her world was about to be turned upside down and what had worked for her in the past was no longer going to work for her in the present or the future.

Jesus was not pragmatic, nor should we be. The disciples were pragmatic and they missed out on so much.

"The woman left her waterpot...."

She dropped her vessel which she used to satisfy her physical needs. For John to write this bit of information here in this chapter, we are wise to stop and ponder what this meant.

Remember back to when you were first saved. Did you leave behind your original plans to begin the works of the Lord? Did you want to tell everyone you knew about what happened to you? What changes did you feel deep inside? How have those feelings changed? Are the stronger or weaker now?

Not only was this woman changed by her meeting with Jesus, but now she was willing to go into the city and tell the men what had happened. For this woman to go and speak to the men was telling.

Meeting Jesus changes everything:

Please read:

John 1:47-51

John 10: 35-39

John 11:38-44

Matt 8: 5-13

Matt 15: 21-28

Matt 15:29-31

Matt 20: 29-34

Yet, not everyone who came in contact with Jesus was changed. Jesus only revealed Himself to those chosen to follow or believe in Him. Others, He saved or spoke to for His own purposes:

Matt 9:32-34

Matt 12:22-24

Matt 12:38-42

Even a small village of Samaritans rejected Jesus:

Luke 9:51-56

These Samaritans would not receive Jesus so He went to another village.....and soon we will study how the people believed.

God chooses for Himself His own and He seeks them out and brings them to Himself.

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Life Application

"...went her way into the city, and said to the men...."

The Samaritan woman had a new found trust in the Lord. She was a new creature in Christ now because He revealed Himself to her. Let's review how He did this:

He sat at the well and waited for her.

He spoke to her.

He hinted that He had what she had been searching for all her life.

She asked about the living water.

He convicted her of her sins.

She confessed.

He revealed to her what she ought to worship.

She revealed her faith and hope in the coming Messiah.

Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah.

It is truly a beautiful picture of how Christ works. No pragmatism here! He seeks us out, waits for us, speaks to us, woos us to Himself, hints that He is all we will ever need. He then convicts us of our sins, purges us of our sins. Finally, He puts in us that faith and hope in Him only to reveal Himself to us fully.

Please read:

Ps 37:3-5

Ps 71:1-3

Ps 16:8-9

Ps 119:147-148

We are so blessed...more so than the Samaritan woman...in that we have the Bible. The Special Revelation of God is right here in our hands. We can pick it up and revisit these verses over and over when times get hard. The Samaritan woman met face to face with Jesus, that cannot be denied, but we have the complete revelation of God:

John 20:26-29

Ps 119:11

Ps 119:50

Ps 119:105

Jer 20:7-9

1 Cor 12:7-8

Praise be to God that we were given the Word of Truth by the Spirit of God. We are blessed, for though we have never seen Him.....yet we believe.

The woman at the well was brave to go into the city to speak to the men. I am certain the men knew of her reputation. Five husbands! Imagine the rumours. Yet, she left behind her earthly purpose to begin the works of the Lord. The new believer is often more brave than older believers. I remember when my husband became a believer at age 18. He wanted to tell all his old friends about the Lord. He even invited some to church. I knew they wouldn't show, but I didn't say a word. He waited outside the church for his friends to show up, but they never did. But he was brave to tell them about how Jesus changed his life!

J. Hudson Taylor wrote:

"Some are jealous to be successors of the Apostles; I would rather be a successor of the Samaritan woman, who, while they went for food, forgot her waterpot in her zeal for souls"(Believer's Bible Commentary, 1995, p.1486).

Leave your "waterpot" of pragmatism behind.... and go be brave. Tell others all that the Lord has done for you!

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Until next time..........

"We should admire the love of Christ to men, that He has thus given Himself to be the remedy for all their evil, and a fountain of all good. Christ has given Himself to us, to be all things to us that we need. We want clothing, and Christ not only gives us clothing, but He gives Himself to be our clothing that we might put Him on. Galations 3:27: 'For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.'...When it was needed that He should be incarnate, He refused it not, but became a man, and appeared in the form of a servant. When it was needed that He should be slain, He refused it not, but gave Himself for us, and gave Himself to us upon the cross.

Here is love for us to admire, for us to praise, and for us to rejoice in, with joy that is full of gory forever."

-Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758)

(Altogether Lovely, 1997, pp.113-114)

Blessings,

Ruth