This morning, I have been enjoying the sounds of a gentle rain. Oh my, rain on the desert stirs the senses. The cool air, the gentle pitter-patter on the roof and the scent of freshness.
It brings a cleansing and refreshes the soil.
I thanked the Father for touching this dry land and then I thanked Him for touching my life when it was dry and brittle. I thanked Him for his forgiveness and the freedom that forgiveness brings to a parched soul.
Guilt and shame can wither the heart like the scorching sun on the desert floor but the refreshing breeze of the Holy Spirit bringing forgiveness gives life.
If you’ve ever felt remorse, shame, and guilt over something from your past then you will know some of what the woman who met Jesus at a well was experiencing.
The disciples had gone to town to buy food and Jesus stayed at a well to wait. A woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. This was unheard of – he was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan, a half breed. This was not racially or socially acceptable, but Jesus did it anyway.
“Jesus asked her, ‘Would you please give me a drink of water?’
9 ‘You are a Jew,’ she replied, ‘and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?'” John 4:8-9 CEV
As they talked Jesus told her that she could have living water. He was talking about Himself. She asked him to give her this water and when she did Jesus gave her more than she asked for.
He told her to bring her husband – you see it wasn’t proper for a married woman to receive gifts from a man without her husband’s permission.
Now comes the rub. This woman was going to have to reveal what she had wanted to keep hidden. She wasn’t married; she was living with a man, and she had had 5 husbands. Ouch!
“Jesus told her, ‘Go and bring your husband.’ 17-18 The woman answered, ‘I don’t have a husband.’
‘That’s right,’ Jesus replied, ‘you’re telling the truth. You don’t have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn’t your husband.’” John 4:16-18 CEV
Jesus didn’t condemn, he didn’t ridicule. He simply met the woman where she was and let her know that she was loved, forgiven and accepted. This loving outreach to a woman with something to hide made an eternal impact on her town.
“Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. 42 They told the woman, ‘We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!’” John 4:41-42 CEV
I don’t know if you’re trying to hide something from the Lord, but I can assure you He already knows about it. Hiding gives Satan an opportunity to condemn us but bringing it to Jesus releases us from the condemnation, provides us with forgiveness and freedom.
“So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 ERV
Let God’s forgiveness wash you clean and shower you with freedom.