Saturday, November 17, 2012

Morning Hour

This is my favorite way of studying God’s word: letting the Lord speak to me as I pay close attention to each verse.

John 4 - Jesus and the woman at the well

10: “Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’ ”

11: “But sir …”
So typical of we human beings! Jesus says something – presents a wonderful, though often inconvenient and/or uncomfortable way of living or speaking, and we respond (respectfully!), “But sir ….”

“You don’t have …”
We tend to laud God as all-powerful when encouraging another to put her complete trust in his awesome abilities. But do we look at him doubtfully when it’s our turn and say, “You don’t have a bucket or a rope”? (I just can’t see how you can do that, Lord.)

“This well is very deep …”
In today’s reasoning: “Lord, this problem is extremely complicated. This conflict is so tangled up – and Lord, you know how terribly he treated me! So I know you’ll forgive me, Lord, I’m sure, for being skeptical of handling this your way; I just don’t see how it’ll work out for the good.”

“Where would you get this living water?”
In today’s reasoning: “I can’t SEE any evidence of such a thing as you’re claiming – I can’t imagine how such a miraculous way of life could be possible. Sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus to me. A fountain of life is just a myth.”

12: “And, besides, do you think you’re greater than Jacob … who gave us this well?”
Translated in today’s language: “I’m going to go with what I can taste, see and feel! I’m going to trust in what I KNOW! Why does Jesus think he knows better than the way my parents taught me to live?”

“How can you offer better water than he (Jacob) and his animals enjoyed?”
Our translation: “I think I’ll stick with the visible. At least I know I’ll have my physical needs satisfied until I die – how can anything be better than that?!”

But Jesus isn’t done with this dear, unseeing woman … Praise his holy name!!!

No comments: