Bible Verse: “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” Psalm 107:9
Scripture Reading: John 4:7-30
A pandemic can cause us to search for something, anything that will satisfy us during the chaos. Maybe you are stressed out, and porn is your escape; or you are worried about your job, and so you are consumed with thoughts of work at the expense of everything else.
The following is an excerpt from You Can Change by Tim Chester as he reflects on the story of the woman caught in adultery from John 4.
Jesus asks the woman to fetch her husband. This looks like a tangent, but in fact, it leads straight to her heart. The truth is that she’s had five husbands, and the man she’s now with is not her husband. She’s been looking for meaning, satisfaction, and fulfillment in marriage, sex, and intimacy. But they’re like water that leaves her thirsty again. No doubt, there was real pleasure. But it didn’t last. It wasn’t the real thing. It left her thirsty. There was a clear pattern in her life. The math tells the story: five husbands plus another man.
What are the patterns in your life? Are the words “If only . . .” a refrain? What comes after the “If only . . .”? Do you really believe God is good?
When the woman tries to draw Jesus into worship controversies, Jesus redefines worship (vv. 19–24). Worship is not about location. It’s an attitude of the heart: you worship in spirit and in truth. Worship is about what you desire most, what you think has most worth. Every time you look to God to satisfy your longings, you worship him in spirit and truth. Every time you look elsewhere, you commit idolatry. Even our good works can be idolatrous acts. If we don’t delight in God for his own sake, finding him beautiful and glorious in our eyes, then we’ll serve him for what we get in return: reputation, security, escape from hell. In so doing, we reveal that our greatest love is our reputation, our security, our self-preservation, ourselves.
Life with God and for God is the best life you could live. God is not only better than anything sin offers—God is forever.
Taken from You Can Change by Tim Chester, pages 85-86. Copyright © 2010 Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org
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