When he comes, he will explain everything to us.
John 4:25
The Old Testament ended with a big question mark.
Israel's history left scars on her people, wounds on her faith.
Had God abandoned his people?
Could He really be trusted to keep His promises?
Had Israel lost His love forever with her faithlessness and disobedience?
Where was the true place to worship, and could the gap between the Jews and Samaritans ever be bridged? Could the feuding groups ever be reconciled?
Israel's history left scars on her people, wounds on her faith.
Had God abandoned his people?
Could He really be trusted to keep His promises?
Had Israel lost His love forever with her faithlessness and disobedience?
Where was the true place to worship, and could the gap between the Jews and Samaritans ever be bridged? Could the feuding groups ever be reconciled?
But God's people still lived with the hope that when the Messiah finally appeared, He would explain everything to them.
Why, God, why?
Why did we go into exile? Why did you allow your people to be disgraced, to be despised? Why did you allow your great Name to be trampled by nations that did not love you, did not worship you? How could this ever have happened? Where is the true temple, the glorious future that we were promised? When will we be vindicated?
In her one simple statement, this woman at the well boiled down hundreds of years of the people's questioning - Where is God?
Why did we go into exile? Why did you allow your people to be disgraced, to be despised? Why did you allow your great Name to be trampled by nations that did not love you, did not worship you? How could this ever have happened? Where is the true temple, the glorious future that we were promised? When will we be vindicated?
In her one simple statement, this woman at the well boiled down hundreds of years of the people's questioning - Where is God?
The woman had her own scarred history. She'd had multiple husbands and was not married to the man she currently "had."
Will this man finally love me? Will this one help me feel like I have a place? Will this one treat me kindly and not abuse me?
...Well, my name is already in the mud. No point marrying this one - he'll probably just leave anyway, and no more trying to keep up this charade of being a "respectable" lady.
I already have to go out in public at noon, when it's too hot for anyone else.
I can't go when all the other women are there, who haven't messed up their lives, who haven't ruined themselves.
But when the Messiah comes...maybe he can do something. Maybe he can help, somehow.
We are living in times of the question mark.
The church has in a very real sense been grafted into Israel. We are the people of God, the children of promise. And yet.
God's people look upon a violent world that seems to have lost its compass. Jesus, Savior, pilot me, over life's tempestuous sea. Jesus, Savior, pilot our world.
A world in which in which hate and anger seem to keep winning, in which the most vulnerable are exploited by the wealthy who don't even have to think about what they're doing, don't even have to see them, because they are hidden away in places like factories, making that new iPhone we simply must have and the clothes we wear every day.
We are living in a digital age in which people can turn into monsters, and it's okay because that person they're insulting is just "online" - as far as they're concerned, they don't have a face, a family, a history, a heart. A smartphone is more interesting than a human face, anyway, right?
In the age of Facebook, our neighbors seem Faceless. So much information, so little humanity.
The church has in a very real sense been grafted into Israel. We are the people of God, the children of promise. And yet.
God's people look upon a violent world that seems to have lost its compass. Jesus, Savior, pilot me, over life's tempestuous sea. Jesus, Savior, pilot our world.
A world in which in which hate and anger seem to keep winning, in which the most vulnerable are exploited by the wealthy who don't even have to think about what they're doing, don't even have to see them, because they are hidden away in places like factories, making that new iPhone we simply must have and the clothes we wear every day.
We are living in a digital age in which people can turn into monsters, and it's okay because that person they're insulting is just "online" - as far as they're concerned, they don't have a face, a family, a history, a heart. A smartphone is more interesting than a human face, anyway, right?
In the age of Facebook, our neighbors seem Faceless. So much information, so little humanity.
And yet.
Jesus is a personal God.
He is a Person, not a force.
He is a Person, not an idea.
He does not teach the way, the truth, and the life, He IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life. To know Him is Eternal Life.
He holds the keys to understanding the currents of time. Without Him, we "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past," as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. We are hamsters racing frantically on a wheel to nowhere.
But with Him, we have a glorious destiny, a future hope that will not be cut off.
In these times of the question mark, we introduce people to the only One who can explain everything. We commune with the only One who holds the answers. We live in his Kingdom even now as we look ahead with wonder to the New Jerusalem.
He is a Person, not a force.
He is a Person, not an idea.
He does not teach the way, the truth, and the life, He IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life. To know Him is Eternal Life.
He holds the keys to understanding the currents of time. Without Him, we "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past," as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote. We are hamsters racing frantically on a wheel to nowhere.
But with Him, we have a glorious destiny, a future hope that will not be cut off.
In these times of the question mark, we introduce people to the only One who can explain everything. We commune with the only One who holds the answers. We live in his Kingdom even now as we look ahead with wonder to the New Jerusalem.
How often, in your life, do you think, "When he comes, he will explain everything to me?"
Life will never entirely make sense this side of eternity. Though He will give us precious glimpses that reveal His providential hand, we only see pieces of the puzzle while He has already knit the entire picture together.
On our side, we see loose ends. Unfulfilled promises. Unmet expectations. Deferred dreams. Unreconciled relationships. Hopeful beginnings that ended in heartbreak. People making promises and breaking them, time and time again.
Life will never entirely make sense this side of eternity. Though He will give us precious glimpses that reveal His providential hand, we only see pieces of the puzzle while He has already knit the entire picture together.
On our side, we see loose ends. Unfulfilled promises. Unmet expectations. Deferred dreams. Unreconciled relationships. Hopeful beginnings that ended in heartbreak. People making promises and breaking them, time and time again.
In eternity, we see completeness. We see fulfillment. We see everything come full circle -
Creation > Fall > Redemption
And it ends in Redemption, never to fall again.
"When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
Believer, in a sense, you are waiting, just like the Jews and Samaritans were. You are living in the Spirit, yes. You have the abundant life. You are an heir of his promises, a child of his Kingdom.
But when things here don't make sense, when you wonder, "How long, O Lord?"...
Remember that, from His viewpoint, the puzzle pieces all fit.
Every ugly part of the tapestry, when sewn into the whole, speaks of His glory, His truth, and His love.
And there's a place where you fit in - you, with all your struggles, triumphs, doubts, fears, and faith. Just like Israel, like the Samaritans, like the Woman at the Well.
"Come, see the man who told me everything I ever did."
Even once the woman realized she was speaking to the One who knew all the answers, what did she rejoice in?
She rejoiced in the fact that He knew her.
While she sought answers, He sought her.
She forgot all the other answers she was seeking because here, finally, was Someone who knew everything about her - and loved her anyway. Behold the Man who knows everything you ever did. Behold Him when you can see little else clearly.
You may never know the answer to your question mark, but you can know the One who holds it.
You may not be able to see the whole tapestry now, but you can know the Weaver.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher calls life "hevel" all throughout the book. This word is often translated "meaningless" in modern versions, but its literal meaning is more like smoke, a vapor.
Like smoke, life is beautiful and mysterious. You can create it, but you can't control the shape it takes.
Before you know it, it takes a new form.
Before you know it, it's gone.
And when you're in the middle of it, you can't see clearly.
So the Teacher isn't saying that life has no meaning, but rather that its meaning isn't clear.
At least not to us.
But God sees the hevel clearly. He sees it take shape and even somehow, mysteriously, forms it. Not only your individual life, but all of human history.
You can trust His promises. You can trust Him.
Jesus can be trusted with Your question mark.
Believer, in a sense, you are waiting, just like the Jews and Samaritans were. You are living in the Spirit, yes. You have the abundant life. You are an heir of his promises, a child of his Kingdom.
But when things here don't make sense, when you wonder, "How long, O Lord?"...
Remember that, from His viewpoint, the puzzle pieces all fit.
Every ugly part of the tapestry, when sewn into the whole, speaks of His glory, His truth, and His love.
And there's a place where you fit in - you, with all your struggles, triumphs, doubts, fears, and faith. Just like Israel, like the Samaritans, like the Woman at the Well.
"Come, see the man who told me everything I ever did."
Even once the woman realized she was speaking to the One who knew all the answers, what did she rejoice in?
She rejoiced in the fact that He knew her.
While she sought answers, He sought her.
She forgot all the other answers she was seeking because here, finally, was Someone who knew everything about her - and loved her anyway. Behold the Man who knows everything you ever did. Behold Him when you can see little else clearly.
You may never know the answer to your question mark, but you can know the One who holds it.
You may not be able to see the whole tapestry now, but you can know the Weaver.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher calls life "hevel" all throughout the book. This word is often translated "meaningless" in modern versions, but its literal meaning is more like smoke, a vapor.
Like smoke, life is beautiful and mysterious. You can create it, but you can't control the shape it takes.
Before you know it, it takes a new form.
Before you know it, it's gone.
And when you're in the middle of it, you can't see clearly.
So the Teacher isn't saying that life has no meaning, but rather that its meaning isn't clear.
At least not to us.
But God sees the hevel clearly. He sees it take shape and even somehow, mysteriously, forms it. Not only your individual life, but all of human history.
You can trust His promises. You can trust Him.
Jesus can be trusted with Your question mark.
