November 16
2018
Shortcuts and God Appointments
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” John 4:3-7
Jesus was leaving Judea to go to Galilee.
There was a short route through Samaria, but the Jewish people didn’t like the people from Samaria and would go around the long way to avoid going through that area.
But the text tells us that “He (Jesus) needed to go through Samaria.”
Some have suggested He was on a time schedule and because He didn’t have any biases He went through Samaria because it was the shortest and most direct route.
I believe the wording is stronger than that.
The word needed =dei= it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper.
It would seem to me that rather than this just being a shortcut (the shortest and most direct route) that this was a God appointment.
Jesus didn’t just take His convenience;
I believe He would have also taken the “long way” had the situation necessitated that.
Jesus had an appointment with the woman at the well.
Not just any appointment but an appointment that would change her life as well as the lives of those in her village.
The woman was desperate and Jesus was there to meet her need for “living water”.
Do you have a desperate need today?
(by the way, we all have a desperate need for Jesus….).
Jesus is willing to take the shortcut (or the long way around) to meet you where you are; to offer you the gift of “living water.”
“But He needed to go through insert your location here.”