Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 2 Chronicles 20: 15, KJV
Heavenly Father, we look to You for wisdom to understand, and rely on Your promise to fight our battles for us, or with us. Amen
This is our second day in this text. We are going to be looking at another kind of battle today. At first glance it is not perceived as a battle, but it is. Some battles are so subtle that we enter them hands down, until we receive the first blow.
The battle takes place around a well in the city of Sychar in Samaria. The woman in the story seems to be battling with a loss of identity. She comes to draw water out of the well in the heat of the day. A battle is obviously raging within. There is a Jew sitting at the well. She draws her water and turns to leave when the unexpected happens.
Blow number one: He, a Jewish man is asking her, a Samaritan woman, for a drink of water! In the East people are always willing to give someone “the gift of God” (that is what water was called). She questions his motive. He replies: “If only you had recognized the gift of God, you would be asking Him and He would have given you living waters.” Obviously, all her life she had heard so much about the “wages of sin,” that even though the gift of God Himself was before her, she did not recognize Him. Her curiosity is now awakened.
Blow number two: “Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but anyone who drinks of the water that I give will never be thirsty again.” Now He has her undivided attention. All caution is gone, her guard is down. The battlefield of her life is laid bare: “Sir,” she cries, “give me that water that I will never be thirsty again, and will have no need to come here to draw water.” Interpreted: Free me from this longing that never seems to be satisfied. Free me from the stares of those who judge me without knowing my true circumstances. The battle is raging!
Blow number three: “Go and bring your husband.” “I don’t have a husband.” “That’s the truth, because you have had five, and the one you have now is not your husband.” That was the knock-out punch! This Stranger was reading her life, yet he did not make her feel worthless! He knew that she was the victim. (Permit me to use my imagination here). After regaining her speech she begins to discuss Scripture with Him. Her childhood memories come flooding back. Even as a Samaritan child she remembers her parents clinging to their own self identity for dear life: At least we have Mount Gerizim. She tries the same survival tactic with this Stranger from Whom nothing seems to be hidden! But He assures her that it is not the place of worship: “The Father seeks those that will worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Certainly, this must be the Prophet that was to come. “I that speak to you am He.” She is free now! The battle that was suppressed for all these years was allowed to come to the surface and be dealt with.
She no longer needs her waterpot that gave her a sense of identity and self-worth. She leaves it behind her, along with her past, and goes running to face the very people that she had been avoiding for years. “Come and see a Man who told me all about myself, without destroying me.” He must be the Christ!
Sometimes the Lord will fight our battle for us. Sometimes He will wrestle with us, until we surrender it to Him, and allow Him to set us free.