Day 4 - John 4

SCRIPTURE - John 4

KEY VERSE: John 4:34 - "'My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work.'"

OBSERVATION ~ Jesus and the disciples end up in Samaria. Remember, Jews viewed Samaritans as lower class Jews. The Samaritans held onto some beliefs about God that were contradictory to the Jews in the southern kingdom of Judea. The Samaritans and Judeans were enemies since the time of the end of Solomon’s reign, around 900 BC.

Jesus in His wisdom engages the Samaritan woman in a conversation. She is drawing water at the well in the middle of the day, when most women would not do this. It is hottest at this time and she is most likely ostracized by the other women because of her promiscuous lifestyle.

APPLICATION ~ Sometimes I have days where I almost literally run from appointment to appointment and from meeting to meeting non-stop. What happens is I start early in the morning and the morning turns into afternoon and the afternoon turns into evening and before you know it you haven't hardly paused even to eat. Jesus had been on a roll like that. The disciples are appropriately concerned that He hasn't had anything to eat and they encourage him saying, "you need to get something to eat or you won't be able to keep on going."

Jesus says in so many words, "hey guys, I have a source of energy that sustains me, and you don't know anything about it." The disciples are confused. Then he tells them, "My food, is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work." Jesus was explaining that what really motivates Him and keeps Him going is doing what the Father wants; that is how He gets fed, by feeding others.

Jesus is a great example of someone who is at a place of spiritual maturity. It was serving God and others that was his "food". That was how He got fed. Serving sustained Him.

My question for myself, and our question for ourselves is, how are we fed by God? It drives me crazy when people say, ‘I’m not getting fed in church.’ What do you mean you are not getting fed? What are you doing with the other 167 hours of the week to feed yourself from God? Think about what our role is . . . if we are spiritual babes, then you need me to feed you, via a bottle.
However, if you consider yourself a spiritual adult, then you should be eating meat (turkey). It means you are capable of cutting it and eating it.

The question I need to continually ask myself is how well am I being fed by God, because I am continually drawing closer to God.

PRAYER ~ Father God, I want to serve you, but I can only do that when I seek to be present with You in Your work. Help me to seek You, daily, to better understand how I need to be fed by You, and help me to be healthy in my personal, spiritual and emotional life. Thank you for how much meaning and purpose You have brought to my life. In a very real way the mission, Your mission, brings me sustenance. Amen.