Three Ways Jesus Has the Final Say With the Woman at the WellSample

When Stephen and I were three and a half years into our marriage, he had an affair. We had a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old at the time and it left me broken beyond repair. So, when the Lord told me to stay in my marriage, I had nothing but questions and doubts. In verse 11, we find the Samaritan woman with doubts and questions too.

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

She noticed Jesus had nothing to draw water with after He told her He could give her living water. She sees what's right in front of her and doesn’t see how what He is saying is possible. She’s questioning how He’s going to do what He said.

Again, I see myself here. God told me to stay in my marriage and I wondered how in the world I would be able to and how He was going to save it. I just couldn’t see it. All I saw was the anger, the hurt, and the brokenness in front of me. I simply couldn’t see how any of that was going to get better or go away if I stayed. It looked impossible. Much like drawing water from a well with nothing to draw it with.

But here’s the thing, Jesus isn’t overwhelmed by our circumstances. He isn’t put off by our brokenness. He isn’t ill-equipped for the job. He digs His hands into the mess and begins working. He’s working even when we cannot see it or do not understand what He’s doing. She asked “How?” and Jesus answers her in verses 13-14.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus is the how. He doesn’t have to figure it out. He simply does. The woman says "How?" and He says "Through me. And not only through me once but I will provide and keep on providing. I will spring up in you and around you and I will never run out."

We jump to wanting to know how something will be done or we want to figure it out on our own, but we are reminded here that Jesus is the how. It’s not on us to figure it out or make it all work. We get to surrender to the endless love, grace, and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus provides and keeps on providing. He doesn’t ever stop taking care of us. He doesn’t ever stop nourishing our souls. He doesn’t ever stop meeting us right where we are with exactly what we need. Jesus has the final say.

Dear Heavenly Father, sometimes I get caught up in the how of Your plan and forget that You are how it all comes to pass. Forgive me for jumping ahead and trying to produce the results I want. Help me to surrender to the work You are doing in me and around me. Open my eyes to what You’re doing and give me what I need to be a part of it. Remind me, when I just can’t see past the mountain in front of me, that You are a mountain mover. Stir up in me the promises of Your Word when the situation I’m facing doesn’t seem to change. Settle Your truth in me when the noise and chaos of the world around me swirls. Help me to trust You to sustain me with Your strength and to provide me with what You know I need to be more like You each day. I love You with everything I am. In Jesus’ name, Amen.