When you’re studying a passage from the Bible do you ever just stop and think about why something happened or what caused someone to do what they did? I have often found myself asking what or why while studying from God’s word, especially with the account of the Samaritan woman at the well found in John 4. The account is so simple, yet it is filled with many lessons about Christian living.

Upon reading John 4:1-26 we learn that Jesus had been talking to the woman while His disciples went into a Samaritan city to buy food. In the midst of their conversation Jesus tells her to “go, call your husband, and come here” (v. 16); to which she replies with “I have no husband” (v. 17). In verse 18, we learn, from Jesus’ all-knowing nature, that the woman has had five husbands and the person she’s currently with is not her husband. At this point, I asked why. Why has she had that many husbands and is currently living in adultery? Now, we don’t know exactly why she is living in sin, but perhaps she feels empty and is looking for love or joy.

As humans, we tend to feel like we need something to complete our lives, something to fill the emptiness that we sometimes feel. Far too often, people tend to look to worldly things to fill their lives when in reality they will never be able to feel full with those things. Some people will try to buy their joy with things or look to drugs, alcohol, companionship with other humans, etc. When they realize that whatever worldly thing isn’t making them full, they will try something different or in the case of the Samaritan woman, continually get married and divorced until she feels satisfied. 

In order to feel full, we must fill ourselves with God. Acts 2:28 makes a reference to Psalm 16:8-11 when David states that the Lord will make him “full of joy.” The only One who can satisfy the human heart is the One who created it. Only God can make us full; only He can satisfy our longing for something to complete us. Psalm 19:3 says, “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” If you take a look back at verse 1 in the same chapter, you know that the voice in verse 3 is the same voice that declares the glory of God. The universe, God’s creation, is basically screaming for us to seek God (vs. 3); we all hear the same thing when we look at nature. Everyone realizes that we need something and in Psalm 19:7 we realize exactly what we need, the law of the Lord! We must daily spend time with God in His word to fill the hole that we sometimes feel. Worldly things aren’t going to satisfy your longing. Look to God first and foremost before anything else. “Seek those things which are above, where Christ is” (Colossians 3:1).

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Jennifer Odom

Jennifer has been a Christian since October 2011. She lives in Fairfield, Illinios and worships at the Fairfield Church of Christ where her father is the minister. She is a 16-year-old senior in high school and plans to attend Freed-Hardeman University in the fall of 2017. She enjoys reading, crocheting, and Bible journaling. Jennifer's favorite verse is Philippians 1:21. One day she wants to speak at ladies days, become a missionary, and bring as many people as she can with her to heaven.

Latest posts by Jennifer Odom (see all)

• Going the Distance - July 23, 2020
• There is Peace - July 25, 2019
• Little Did They Know - August 21, 2017