John 4:27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?"
At this point, the Father determined that the woman had enough information upon which to respond. The conversation ended with the arrival of the disciples. And for a reason that we can only attribute to the work of God’s Spirit, the disciples don’t question Jesus as to why He spoke with her. That would have hijacked the encounter. The Spirit wanted the woman to be consumed with this giant reality. The Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ spoke to her. We may assume Jesus talked with her again since He stayed in the area for two more days, but those encounters were not recorded.
Let’s notice God’s timing in this story. The Father had Jesus send His disciples into the village to get food. That was necessary for Jesus to have a one-on-one conversation with the Samaritan woman. For that conversation to happen, the Father, whether through decreed or passive power, directed the woman’s steps at just the right time to go get water. Had either of those two things happened differently, either Jesus and the woman would have missed each other, or the disciples would have been in the way. Their return was perfect timing. Jesus had just given the woman all she needed for God to draw a crowd from the village to His Son. “I who speak to you am He.” The Father and the Son show the disciples that the kingdom of God and eternal life is to cross over racial, ethnic, and social barriers.
We have in this story the fulfillment of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus where He told him that the Spirit was going to blow to the Gentile world and give new birth. God loves the Gentile world as He loves the Jews as mentioned in John 3:16. This encourages us to take the gospel to the nations, to everyone God puts in our paths. Another encouragement I draw from this verse is how we may trust in God’s sovereign and perfect administration of our lives. John wanted his readers to see the wisdom and love revealed in the Father as He administrated every aspect of this story. Like Jesus, we can trust that God establishes our steps every day and the steps of everyone we meet. They are not random, chance encounters. God has been in control of ten thousands things in everyone’s lives for His children to cross paths with someone who needs living water and needs to know that Jesus is the savior of the world, the Christ. God writes our stories like He wrote this one.
With that confidence and encouragement from this verse, I hope you’ll join me in praying what I call the Live to Love prayer. “Father, thank You for another day of life to know and love You and to live to love with Jesus. Anoint and fill me with the Holy Spirit, the presence and power of Christ, so that I can love and trust You, and love those You put in my path today, for Your glory. Amen.”
I invite you to make that prayer a part of your daily devotion to God. Please go to the website and take the Live to Love prayer challenge to pray it each morning for two months. I hope also that you’ll become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of “giving it forward,” so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.
