Discovering the Needs of the Heart
By Jill BriscoeJesus must needs go through Samaria. ~ John 4:4 KJV
We were getting ready to do a “value survey” in our community. Being charged with the responsibility of women’s ministries at our church, I needed to know what women thought, in order to better serve and minister to them. We decided to collect data from five thousand ladies concerning their sexual, social, and spiritual values. Coming across the biblical record of Jesus’ conversation with the woman of Samaria in John 4, I realized He was using the “survey method”! This gave me great encouragement and I avidly researched His methods and noted the good results!
First of all, I noticed that He talked with the woman when He was wearied with His journey (see John 4:6). Though faint with hunger and waiting for His disciples to bring meat, He knew that His “meat” was to do the will of Him that sent Him while it was day, for He understood “the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4, KJV). Jesus watched for every opportunity to interview people on the most personal levels concerning their values, without thought of the cost to Himself.
Then I noted where He questioned the woman. He chose a center of ordinary daily activity – the village well. He did not go to the synagogue when seeking to answer the cry of lost sheep. He knew He would find such hungry souls outside church boundaries. We have to ask the right people the right questions in the right places if we are to have the glorious chance to give them the right answers.
And why did Jesus choose to challenge people to a personal faith in Himself? He told the woman of Samaria, “Salvation was of the Jews,” and He wanted her to know that He was the promised Messiah, the One who alone could forgive her sins and give her spiritual satisfaction.
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