John 4

First I would like to say thank you so much to those of you who have been reading my blog. I know several of you have already checked today to see if I had posted, so I'd like to apologize for the late post. I have been busy with cleaning and two trips to Mobile today. Needless to say,I really needed tonight's reading!

When we begin John 4, we see that Jesus left Judea and went back to Galilee. The chapter begins with Jesus sitting at the well speaking to a woman who had come to draw water during the middle of the day. My study Bible provided me with the information that women usually drew water in the mornings and in the evenings, so it was strange for this woman to be at the well during the midday hours. As Jesus continues to speak with her, we learn that she has had 5 husbands and the man she lived with at that point wasn't her husband. Jesus seriously just called this chick out! To her face! About her own private living situation! I'm not sure about y'all but I think I'd be pretty stinkin' mad if some stranger reprimanded me for me having so many husbands. I think that this Samaritan woman knew there was something different about Jesus. 1. He spoke with her in public....that is a big deal because he was a Jewish man and she was a Samaritan woman. 2. He knew her sins but yet he spoke to her anyways! This is a valuable lesson for all of us! Our sins are not too great for God to handle. We also don't need to have the attitude that so many Christians have. There are people I personally know that will not converse with someone who is living a sinful life. I've heard of people saying that if a person is outright sinning and they come to their church, they should run them out of there! This is the wrong mentality to have. Yes Jesus reprimanded her, but he did it out of love. He didnt do it out of arrogance.

Verse 33 brought forth a few chuckles from me, I'll have to admit! The disciples remind me so much of myself! They are constantly asking questions because they don't understand what Jesus is talking about. With them being his close followers, they still didn't have a clue half the time, so that means that for those of us who don't follow him closely, we are really going to be lost. We need to try to have faith that God will work things out. The government official at the end of this chapter had faith. He left and went back to his sick son and didn't doubt that God would heal him for one minute. If we want God to work in our lives, we need to start praying and accepting and thanking him for his blessings he gives us. Even if We can't see them at this moment in time.

Verse 37 talks about how some do the hard labor and then other people reap the benefits. I took this as a sign to not get discouraged. We may not see the immediate result, but the planting and tending to the crop is much harder than picking it and reaping the crop. What we need to remember is that the seed has to start somewhere. Don't be discouraged. I am raging for every one of you!