Lately I’ve been impressed that God is an amazing opportunist. We know from His Word that he doesn’t want any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And so, with this intention in Mind, we know from that famous verse we looked at the other day that God took action: He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). That much is clear from history. But also, in our own day and lives, God sets about arranging situations and circumstances to arrange our “coming to repentance”, our “believing in His Son”, our getting to the place where we make a willing choice to change our minds, to turn around, to believe in Him, to follow Him, so that we won’t perish. And it’s been in my experience personally, and in my hearing the personal experiences of others in how they came to repentance and faith, that I notice many and various ways which God works to bring people to a place of repentance and faith. He uses almost every conceivable opportunity to do so. He is the Great Opportunist.
Such is the case here with the so-called “woman at the well”. Jesus was in Judea, the central part of Israel, and he wanted to withdraw to the north, to Galilee, due to the notoriety He was gaining at the time (there would be time later, the right time, for the ultimate confrontation and loss at the hands of His enemies so that they, and we, might be saved). The normal route north would have gone around Samaria, the home of those Jewish cousins hated for their having compromised the faith by mixing it with other beliefs and customs. But John says that Jesus had to go through Samaria (John 4:4), apparently so that he could meet this woman, and work in such a way that she, a Samaritan, and a woman to boot, would, even from her seemingly low estate, come to the highest level of trust and change in following Jesus.
And so, in this case, the circumstance that brings all of this about is an exchange of water. When Jesus meets her, out in the heat of the day, alone, not with the other women who would have drawn water earlier, He realizes that this well signifies the great need in her life: her need for friendship, understanding, forgiveness, human refreshment and divine approval. So he says, give me a drink (John 4:7). And thereafter, around a conversation about water and wells and Jews and Samaritans, Jesus works in this woman’s heart and mind in such a way that this section of the story ends with her saying to Jesus, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty… (John 4:15). The ordinary situation becomes an extraordinary opportunity in the hands of the Great Opportunist.
For today, I want you to note this ordinary situation in which Jesus worked, and then think about the ordinary, or extraordinary situations in which He has worked in your life, or the life of others, to bring you or them to Himself. And then extend that out to those for whom you pray that they might repent and believe in Jesus. Pray with confidence in God, the Great Opportunist, Who will use whatever situations He can get His hands on (ie, just about anything and everything) to lead people to Himself, since this is His stated intention, not wanting any to perish.
And, as they say, “tune in tomorrow, for the rest of the story”.
