The woman at the well

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
-John 4:23-26 (NIV)





Wow! Why did Jesus reveal his Messianic identity to this woman at the well? In the eyes of society, and even in her own eyes, she was not fit to visit the well at the hour other people did. She knew that her behaviour and lifestyle was not right. Then God, the saviour of the whole world, the creator of this woman, and all the earth and sky and space is standing right before her at the well.
Oh my Lord God, that is awesome. What is more remarkable is how He pointed out her errant ways, and at the same time ministered healing to her. Our Lord Jesus was never more a demonstration of love personified!
I love this story. I can just imagine the burdens, the sadness, the regrets that were coiled up in her heart that day as she went to the well.

I am excited about how her encounter with Jesus totally transformed her life. There was honesty, there was owning up to her part in her troubled life, and there was forgiveness, there was love from a man who loved her with a totally different kind of love, very different from her many husbands. Something new, and refreshing and pure. A love totally untainted by selfish desires, and completely motivated by compassion and a desire to restore this woman to whole ness.

Jesus is still in the business of restoration to wholeness. I am so humbled by the depth of my own encounters with Him. I am transformed, and I am able to forgive myself because of my encounters with Him. I am free to choose what is right, I am free to walk in God's will, and His promises to me. This is the basis of my heart's worship. I worship out of thankfulness, out of deep gratitude as I become more and more aware of the great thing God has done.
He has come down from the lofty heights of heaven to minister peace to me.