Devotion from Dr. Charles Stanley

God's Love Offered to the Hurting

READ | John 4:7-27

Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). His life clearly revealed God's loving character and His compassion for people. The Lord's interaction with the Samaritan woman, for example, was a demonstration of the tender love and care our heavenly Father has for us.

Jesus initiated contact. Much to His disciples' dismay, Jesus deliberately went out of His way to meet the woman from Samaria. In that day, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. In fact, they avoided traveling through their region. But God does not follow man's rules or his prejudices. He reaches out with a message of hope and new life to anyone who will listen and believe.

Jesus knew the Samaritan woman's pain and heartache. She must have felt worthless, abandoned, and unloved after being divorced by five husbands. We all have emotional baggage that weighs us down and causes us pain. Our heavenly Father knows our deepest hurts and secret shame. Jesus offered her forgiveness and love. The Lord drew out the details of her situation in a nonjudgmental way. He wanted her to be receptive to His offer of forgiveness and a relationship with God. Jesus understood what she needed—to feel loved, valued, and accepted. And He knew a relationship with Him would fulfill that need.

God sees us as clearly as He saw the Samaritan woman. He knows our hurts and wants to bring us healing and restoration. Will you accept His love and submit to the Holy Spirit's transforming work in order to be brought to spiritual health?

~from Dr. Charles Stanley's In Touch Ministries

John 4:7-27

The Woman of Samaria

7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."

8For His (A)disciples had gone away into (B)the city to buy food.

9Therefore the (C)Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For (D)Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

10Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you (E)living water."

11She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that (F)living water?

12"You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who (G)gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?"

13Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (H)shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to (I)eternal life."

15The woman said to Him, "Sir, (J)give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."

16He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."

17The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband';

18for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

19The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are (K)a prophet.

20"(L)Our fathers worshiped in (M)this mountain, and you people say that (N)in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, (O)an hour is coming when (P)neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22"(Q)You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for (R)salvation is from the Jews.

23"But (S)an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father (T)in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

24"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship (U)in spirit and truth."

25The woman said to Him, "I know that (V)Messiah is coming ((W)He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."

26Jesus said to her, "(X)I who speak to you am He."

27At this point His (Y)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?"

footnotes: BibleGateway.com