Welcome to part three of Jesus can heal your soul.
Isaiah 42:3 (MSG) -3 He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant, but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right. What a promise from God that He wants to set things straight. He wants to bring truth and justice to your situation. What the devil has done to steal, kill, and destroy, ( John 10:10) God wants to set things right. He wants to bring His best into your life. God wants us to walk out of a troubled soul into a transformed soul.
Emotional healing is God bringing truth and justice amid the enemy’s lies that have come against your soul. God will never quit on you. In today’s story, we will look at the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacobs Well. The story is found in ( John 4:4-29). In verse four Jesus stated I must go to Samaria. This was a road that Jews would not travel. The Samaritans were half Jews and very much hated by the Jewish people and they would have nothing to do with them. Jesus is the answer to racial injustice. Any kind of injustice is wrong in the eyes of God. It leaves us wounded, hurt, isolated, persecuted, and alone. We feel deprived of truth and justice. Obeying the Holy Spirit, Jesus set out on his journey to reach and change a life. Today he is reaching out to you. Jesus is willing to go across any lines, racial or otherwise to redeem a life. This is the love and compassion of Jesus that compels Him. Jesus revealing the heart of our Father God!
About noon time Jesus is waiting at the well of Jacob. A Samaritan woman approaches to draw water from the well in the heat of the day and she is all alone. A woman shouldn’t be alone on such a journey. Where were her friends? Where were the other women to come with her? Jesus starts the conversation by asking her to give him a drink of water. I’m sure he is tired and thirsty and wants to start a conversation with her. When was the last time you had a heart-to-heart talk with God? He is interested in what is going on in your life. We see that Jesus has a way to pull things out of your life that you might not want to talk about or even know.
She recognizes that Jesus is a Jew. She knows the history of Jews and Samaritans is not good and she is curious, yet reluctant to engage in a conversation. Jesus starts from a natural point of view, speaking of natural water to proposing to her living water. What are we thirsty for in life? Is it more money, more material things, more affluence, fame, sex, and power? For this woman maybe it was for more acceptance, peace, security, real love, and the joys of life. So she asks for living water so that she wouldn’t have to come to the well so late in the day anymore.
To avoid deeper questions from Jesus she deflects and brings up stuff about Jacob and his well. How good are we to avoid what we are dealing with? How we can live in denial about what is bothering us? Little by little, like the peeling of an onion that makes you cry, Jesus gets to the truth. He tells her to go get her husband. She replies I am not married. Jesus by the Holy Spirit tells her that she has spoken truly and has been married five times and the one she is living with is not her husband. Jesus isn’t there to condemn or judge her but simply states the facts about what has happened in her life so far. He will do the same with you. She is a bruised reed and he wants to bring healing to a wounded life. Maybe she has grieved the loss of a husband or two, maybe experienced the heartache of divorce several times, or maybe she has left an abusive situation. We have to realize that this woman has dealt with a lot of things emotionally. We can see rejection, loneliness, and abandonment. It is quite possible that the life she was living was not a secret to where she was living. People were looking down their noses at her, gossiping about her, and rejecting her.
So the woman perceives that Jesus is a prophet. He can see behind closed doors, revealing how things are. Another layer comes off. Again upon this disclosure, she tries to change the subject again. Talking about where is the proper place to worship. The master Jesus points out that worship is not about a place but about the heart. God is looking for her worship from her heart. But she needs healing first. Still not knowing who Jesus is she says, “One day the Messiah will come and he will tell us all things.” She went from seeing a Jew, who was an enemy, to seeing a prophet, and finally seeing Jesus as Messiah. Slowly her eyes were being opened. Only God could do that. Emotional healing is a process.
Jesus for the first time possibly reveals that he is the Christ, the Messiah. Her eyes are now open to who Jesus is. She is no longer trying to cover her past or present condition. She doesn’t feel judgment or condemnation. She no longer feels unworthy for Christ has loved and accepted her. He didn’t agree with her lifestyle for he knew deep within that she wasn’t satisfied and needed living water. She needed Jesus! Her multiple relationships for whatever reason were not the answer to her woundedness. It did not heal the emotional pain in her life. Jesus was resetting her life, giving her hope. He was willing to tell her the truth.
Isn’t that what love does? She could see that she was no longer rejected, abandoned, and ostracized. That she could overcome shame and guilt because of her lifestyle. Adultery, fornication, and any sexual sin have consequences that only the grace of God can help us deal with and overcome. She confessed that Jesus told her all the things that she ever did. Wow! Talk about reading someone’s mail. Who knows what else was going on in this woman’s life? The good, the bad, and the ugly. She was finally ok with this prophetic voice penetrating her heart because of how Jesus dealt with her. He did it with love, and compassion and he did it privately.
With all her fears, he opened her heart to bring healing to her one layer at a time. She was so ecstatic that she left Jesus and her water pot and went back to her city sharing what God had done for her. Are we willing to leave behind what we think is important? Are we willing to let Jesus heal our wounds? Are we willing to embrace the new life he has for us, even if it means letting go of the past? All the hurts, all the wrong choices, and all the shame and guilt.
John 4:39-41 (KJV) -39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word; Through this woman’s testimony revival broke out. Racial tensions were healed. People heard the good news and were saved. Jesus led her through a process to get to the heart of the matter. Her need wasn’t many men but a spiritual relationship with the one man Jesus Christ! Only that relationship could truly satisfy all that she needed in life. Isaiah 12:2-3 (KJV) -2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Thank God that the wells of this natural life can never satisfy a thirsty soul. Only the wells of salvation. Only Jesus can truly satisfy. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who knows us better than we do ourselves and knows exactly what we need and how to overcome a bruised life. God wants to bring truth and justice into your life. He wants an encounter with you. It is a process to get to the depths of our hurts and emotional pain but it will be worth it. It will bring joy to you and to others around you.
Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV) -3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Isaiah 61:7 (NKJV) -7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.Therefore in their land they shall possess double;Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
Love in Christ
Brent and Linda Bushen
If this has blessed you in any way please let us know and share this with a friend.