Leaving All to Follow God’s Will

The narrative of John 4, commonly called “the woman at the well,” is pregnant with biblical truth. Perhaps the greatest truth is the love that Jesus has for individuals. Scripture tells us, “He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria” (John 4:3-4). He needed to go through Samaria. God doesn’t need anything, and yet love drove Him to go to Samaria, sit by a well, and wait for a complete stranger.

I wonder if we have that same love of God that drives us to look for strangers to whom we can speak. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus sat down because he was weary (v. 6). Even though the daily hassles of this life can make us weary, we must never forget that to which God has called us.

Jesus sat by the well because there was a divine encounter that was about to take place. It would be with a despised Samaritan, one whom the Jews would have condescendingly considered to be a “sinful” woman. When you and I look back on the day of our personal divine encounter, we realize that Jesus went out of His way to seek and save us. He didn’t look at us with condescension and turn away His holy eyes.

“When you and I look back on the day of our personal divine encounter, we realize that Jesus went out of His way to seek and save us. He didn’t look at us with condescension and turn away His holy eyes.”

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When Jesus spoke to this woman, He confronted her about her sins. He didn’t hold back to try and build a relationship. She had violated God’s Law, and she continued to live in adultery. Jesus was gently confrontational—as Nathan was with David, as Paul was with Felix, and as we should be with sinners if we love them and care about where they go when they die.

Later in the passage, she said that Jesus told her everything she had done. It would do us good to meditate on the omniscience of God. On the day that He came to us, He knew everything we had done. He saw every cockroach crawling in the darkened basement of our wicked hearts.

When the woman began to understand who Jesus was—that He was the one who could give her everlasting life—she became overwhelmed with a burden that weighed heavier than her water-filled waterpot. That burden was for the lost souls of her own village. And that is the first sign of grace in the life of any selfish sinner. We begin to genuinely think of others and their terrible eternal fate. So, the Bible tells us that she left her waterpot:

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. (John 4:28-30)

We tend to take water for granted. We drink it daily, undiluted or with tea or coffee. We use it to wash our clothes, to wash ourselves, and to water our lawn. Because it’s so convenient, we rarely give it a second thought. But, in the hot climate of the ancient Middle East, water and life were synonymous. Her waterpot carried precious water, and yet she left it behind. She left it because she now had different priorities. She wanted to take living water to her village, and she didn’t want anything hindering her from that mission.

I remember walking with my kids along a pathway and seeing two huge Dobermans running toward us. I quickly pushed my kids behind me, without any fear, determined to rip those dogs to pieces if they came near my kids. Fortunately, they ran past and didn’t even notice us. But I noticed the power of love.

And it’s love that will cause us to leave our waterpots behind. For me, it was my own selfish agenda. I had lived 22 years saying in my heart, “Not Your will but mine be done.” I had lived for the pursuit of pleasure. But, as each of us begins to understand that we have found living water in Christ, nothing else in life should matter but the will of God. It’s then that we see these waterpots as nothing but a hindrance to seeking and saving that which is lost.