DISCUSSION:
The well
is deep”—and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew (4:11)!
Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the
“wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus
to the point that He is unable to work in your life?
Suppose
that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus
comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1).
Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is
too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.”
Actually, that is correct. Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of
human nature—He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by
remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by
saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing
that approaches the very limits of His power is the very thing we as disciples
of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in
us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in
Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but
we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.
The
reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed
to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and
experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we
get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of
course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of
our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and
saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to
Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look
away from yourself and to look toward Him.
APPLICATION:
Discuss some ways that Jesus can work in our lives,
if we will just let Him.