The air was filled with giant-sized snowflakes for a while this morning.  It is a reminder that we are in November.  The flurries did not last for long...but there was enough snow to cover the rooftops. I think we can safely say that the growing season is now past.   Now is the time for us to celebrate all that God has supplied to us this past year.  Not much has changed in our world since our last Musings session together.  I am still rejoicing that God is in control...aren't you?  In all likelihood, before we next share together, the Middle East Peace Summit could be underway in Annapolis.  Right now the participants... or expected participants, as no official invitations have been sent yet... seem to be jockeying for positions of strength for the conference.  These are important days to be in the Word and to be in intercession before our holy God.  We know that His will will be accomplished.  We need to pray that we might be willing to be molded according to that will. 

Our study this week takes us into John chapter 4.  So I invite you to open your Bibles to this familiar story of Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus was on His way north to Galilee once again after creating a stir in the region of Judea because of His ministry there.  Jesus, at this time, did not wish to engage in a controversy with the Pharisees, so He felt led to go to Galilee.  This time, instead of taking the long route through the regions east of the Jordan River...the usual way Jews traveled from Galilee to Judea and back again...He chose to take the road through Samaria.  Verse 4 states (NIV) "Now he had to go through Samaria."  What was compelling Jesus to go this direction?  We now know that He was motivated by a divine appointment that awaited Him at a certain well-known well in Sychar. 

One of the very first things we notice about Jesus in this text is: He was tired from the journey (verse 6).  It was only noon (the Bible describes it as the sixth hour - remember that a Jewish day begins at 6:00 a.m.), and Jesus was physically exhausted.  Not only had the travel been difficult, but there was the constant stress that the ministry brought upon Him.  So, as the heat of the day bored down upon His head, Jesus sat down alongside of the well, exhausted.  We all have those moments when we face extreme tiredness.  Kent Hughes wrote, "Most souls are won for Christ by tired people.  The best sermons are preached by tired men.  The best camps are fun by exhausted youth ministers.  The world is being evangelized by tired missionaries.  The best Vacation Bible Schools are taught by tired women."  Many of you will say, "Been there...done that."  When fatigue and tiredness set in it is tempting to do what the ancient prophet Elijah did...to quit.  Read 1 Kings 18 and 19.  The former chapter is a chapter of abundant energy and enthusiasm and activity.  Remember that the chapter closes with this old prophet running 20 miles to Jezreel in a driving rainstorm.  Then comes chapter 19...fatigue, disappointment, tiredness.  Result...running away and desiring to quit. 

Now what I find very interesting in the text is that the disciples leave Jesus alone at the well.  Probably, if they had been there when the woman arrived, they would have attempted to prevent her from seeing Jesus.  After all, He needed His rest.  But, they were not there and, although very tired, Jesus saw an opportunity to minister to a woman in her hour of need. 

Let's examine some of the significant truths of this encounter.  First, you will notice (verse 7) that Jesus was the one who engaged the conversation.  It was a simple question - "Will you give me a drink?"  Now it was unthinkable for a man of the stature of Jesus, considered by many to be an important rabbi, to be found talking with a woman, let alone to be the initiator of the conversation.  This is what one of the rabbinic writings states: "A man shall not be alone with a woman in an inn, not even with his sister or his daughter, on account of what men may think.  A man shall not talk with a woman in the street, not even with his own wife, and especially not with another woman, on account of what men may say."  There was even a group of Pharisees who, in their zeal never to see a woman in public, walked down the streets with their eyes closed.  Look for a moment at verse 27, even the disciples were amazed at seeing Jesus talking with a woman in public. 

Not only was this a woman, but she was a Samaritan woman.  By the time of Jesus, the Jews considered the Samaritans to be almost as untouchables.  They were half-breeds, who history was fashioned following the days of the Assyrian Captivity of the northern tribes in 722 BC.  They had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim and had established their own religion based exclusively upon the Pentateuch. 

So, this was a Samaritan woman.  Yet we also learn that she has had a checkered past (read verses 16-18).  It was probably because of her past that the only time this woman could come to the well was in the heat of the day when no one else was there.  She was the talk of the town. 

At this moment in time, Jesus had a very real physical need for a drink of water.  Yet, this woman had an even greater need - a spiritual one - that would call for spiritual water.  Jesus describes it as living water.  Just was with His conversation with Nicodemus, the words Jesus used caused some misunderstanding.  Jesus, who had asked for a drink, was now offering her a drink of water but not from a well.  She doesn't understand this concept any more than did Nicodemus understand what being born again was all about.  So, Jesus explains to her that this water is a free gift and it is water that is eternally satisfying.  In fact, it becomes a bubbling fountain in a person's life.  The life which Jesus gives is no tame, stagnant thing.  It is alive!  It is exciting!  It is bubbling! 

Amazed as she was with what Jesus was saying, this woman was not yet at the point where she was ready to accept it.  So, she decided to switch the subject and talk about worship.  That conversation will form the backdrop for our next study together.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge.  Others just gargle.

PS: There will not be any Musings for the next couple of weeks.  So I want to take this opportunity of wishing each of you a most blessed Thanksgiving Day.  Remember to not forget any of God's gracious blessings.