Have you ever felt compelled to go a certain way or to do something specific? Have you done so, even if it did not fit your normal routine? Were you in the right place at the right time? Were you the beneficiary of being there? Can you recall that day as clear as if it were yesterday?
Some of us have experienced that weird feeling or compulsion to go somewhere or approach someone or perhaps even deliver a message. We may be the beneficiary of being that place and time, or we may be the one providing a benefit to another. But it is not an accident.
Most of us have heard the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well. But there is one very short sentence we may have overlooked. It says, “But he had to go through Samaria.” We may think it was because Samaria was between Jerusalem and Galilee, which it was. What we may have missed is the Jews would go around Samaria when traveling from anywhere north of Samaria to Jerusalem and vice versa. Why? They were enemies and the Jews looked at the Samaritans with contempt.
But Jesus HAD to go through it. Why? He needed to meet the woman. He needed to reach the people of Sychar. Samaritans were considered half-breeds by the Jews. They were outsiders. This is the beginning of the gospel spreading to non-Jews. Jesus, in His first year of ministry, was reaching beyond the Jewish people. He wasn’t waiting to send the apostles. Jesus went through Samaria as part of His mission.
Our mission may carry us to places we would not normally go. My wife and I recently planned to go up to a mountain lookout to watch the sunset. We were running late and almost didn’t go, but I felt we should. While at the lookout, a young couple approached us and asked for a ride down. They had taken an Uber up, but the Uber left. They called another one, but it couldn’t get in the gate because the inbound gate closed at 7PM. They were stranded. God had urged us to go, even though we were a little late, so that we could give that couple a ride down the mountain.
I pray we all know that God moves in mysterious ways. I pray we know that he is always with us. I pray each one of us will be attentive to God urging us to do what we might otherwise not do. God works in mysterious ways. Follow God’s urging. Trust he is always with you.
John 4:4 But he had to go through Samaria.
Marty Pressey 