“When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.., he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar… Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ 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.’ 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.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.'” John 4:1,3-7,9-15
On the road again, this Savior with no place to lay His head, and this time through stigmatized Samaria. He had to go there, for His divine appointment. Bone-weary and thirsty, Jesus sat down to rest, and along came an interruption by way of an outcast. In tune with the Holy Spirit, taking up His mantle of grace, He engaged her in conversation that led to conversion for eternity, and not only for her. When He was spent, Jesus could and would always spend some more for a soul’s sake. (John 4:28-30,39,41-42)
Every day presents the children of God with opportunities to be involved in some way in God’s kingdom work. Pressures and busyness can keep us well-occupied with immediate matters and missing the openings the Lord makes possible. Fatigue can close us off to getting involved in yet another person’s life. My agenda can easily make no room for God’s.
But when we open ourselves to seize every opportunity the Lord presents, He will open our eyes and heart to follow. Asking each morning what the Lord is doing, and how can I be a part, will heighten expectation. Making a difference for eternity is a gift from God.
Where might the Lord be preparing someone for life-giving truth at work, in commercial interactions, our neighborhoods? What divine opportunities that require searching out the unfamiliar, the undesirable, or the least- publicized need, await our willingness? Where need we pass through today on God’s schedule?
Father, keep my feet ready to go or rest, my eyes alert to Your fields white for gospel harvest, and my mouth prepared to declare Your excellencies. (John 4:34-35; Ephesians 6:18-19)
As the rain and snow 