Well Worth Looking Into

Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

This spring I attended a women's conference which focused on the story of Joseph's life. The theme of the gathering was "God is the Author of my Story" and the delightful speakers interwove elements of Joseph's story with the idea that God wants to author and develop every one of our stories for His glory and our good. A particularly inspiring aspect of this retreat was the prayer room that had been designated not only for prayer but the retrieval of a scripture bookmark selected especially for each one of us. Mine was Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. In that moment, God whispered in my heart that not only would He redeem my story by exchanging good for harm, He would do it in a way that accomplished the saving of many lives. What a wonderful promise He offers each one of us!

This morning, my study finishes the story of "The Woman at the Well" in John 3:31-42. After meeting the Messiah, our feature character's life is immediately transformed. Verses 28-30 report that she left her water jar and went into the town to gather as many people as possible to meet Jesus. Many in the village believed, Verse 39 reports. It is the reason why they believed that is a lesson to me. If I had been among the townspeople that day, there are many reasons why I can imagine I might have believed:

• Seeing Jesus perform an amazing miracle
• Meeting the Master up close and personal
• Hearing Jesus deliver a compelling sermon

Interestingly, none of these reasons were given as to why they believed. They believed "because of the women's testimony". Not one drop of water in the wells of her life had been wasted. Jesus had taken every wrong turn, difficult experience and painful memory and used them for His glory by working a miracle of transformation in real people's lives. Likewise, there is no part of my story, no well too deep, disgusting or dirty, that Jesus cannot redeem for good if I'll only allow Him.

When I think about a well's usefulness, there several aspects that spring to mind:

1. A well must be dug. This is painstaking work that can take days or even months. In order for Jesus to redeem my well, I may have to work alongside Him for a long period of time digging into it and allowing Him to exchange my dirt for His delight.
2. A well must be deep enough. The hard work of digging is not done until the reward of water is reached. I cannot allow discouragement or distraction to prevent me from working far enough down my well to reach the life-giving water, where Jesus' ransom lies. Jesus cannot ransom my well unless I willingly allow Him to dig deeply into it.
3. A well must be uncapped. A well dug many years ago can go almost completely unnoticed by the passerby. The same is true with my wells dug many years ago. It seems easier to ignore them than to acknowledge them. Jesus must first gently pry off the cap to my well before I can even find out what's inside. Deep at the bottom of the oldest, most forgotten well there is a thirst-quenching reward just waiting to be discovered.

Jesus, today do more than sit at my well with me. Ransom every aspect of my wells that shaped this woman who sits there today. I know I can trust you to not waste a single drop of my testimony, if only I'm willing to pour out the water of my life into Your hands and deliver my testimony to your townspeople.