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For new insight, try looking at a familiar Scripture passage from a fresh perspective. Take the story of the Woman at the Well—usually viewed as a case study in pointing someone to God. Today, look at it from the angle of an exhausted Jesus and what it was that actually recharged his batteries.

This was early in Jesus' ministry, and with His growing acclaim, He had apparently decided to withdraw from Judea to avoid immediate direct confrontation with the Pharisees.

John 4:3-8 John 4:27-38John 4:3-8, 27-38

1. Based on verses 6-8, how would you picture Jesus' physical and emotional posture at this time?
2. What did Jesus' disciples assume would revive their exhausted rabbi?
3. What did Jesus hint (in v. 31) had already lifted His spirits?
4. How will knowing you are doing God's will in His power (v. 34) bring a sense of fulfillment?
5. Share an example of how you felt rewarded with "good wages" and joy (v. 36) from being part of God's planting-and-harvesting team.

Ask God to empower you to make the shift from resisting or reluctantly accepting His will to gladly embracing it.

3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." 8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, "What do you want with her?" or "Why are you talking to her?" 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?"

30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him. 31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But Jesus replied, "I have a kind of food you know nothing about."

33 "Did someone bring him food while we were gone?" the disciples asked each other. 34 Then Jesus explained: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 You know the saying, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[a] for harvest.

36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, 'One plants and another harvests.' And it's true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest."

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to accept your "good and pleasing, and perfect" will, even when that runs counter to my natural desires.

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