Sinners: Experience God’s Compassion in Your ShameSample

Announcing Jesus Is Your Savior —and the World’s

The Bible brims with revolutionary female figures making a difference for God. God included these God-fearing women in his inspired Word and seemed to position them as standout characters in their stories. And it seems that many of these women used by God were simply those willing to go first. Or, as my friend Jenn would say, go messy early. None of them had it all together; they were as broken as you and me. But they were willing to proclaim God’s truth, even though they did so imperfectly.

• Miriam: the first worship leader for the nation of Israel
• Deborah: the first judge to hold the offices of prophetess and judge and the only exemplary judge of the nation of Israel
• Mary of Nazareth: the first disciple of Jesus
• Mary of Bethany: the first female seminary student
• Mary Magdalene: the first gospel preacher
• Lydia: the first European Christian and the first church planter in Europe
• Phoebe: the first person to read and explain the Book of Romans

In each story and situation, the Lord emphasizes his heart for women: They are indispensable.

The woman at the well in John 4 was also “the first” to do something for God: the first evangelist in the Scriptures. She was likely viewed as a sinner because of her past relationships, her current relationship status, her ethnicity, and her religion. And yet, despite every cultural and societal way she didn’t measure up, she was the first to proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the world.

Jesus met the Samaritan woman’s deepest need with his presence. She was thirsty—not for water but God’s presence in her life. This is the longing under all of her longings and beneath all of ours. Parched for truth and craving security, she didn’t need another man in her life; she needed Jesus, the One who meets all our needs.

Do you believe this about Jesus? You probably have pressing needs in this season of your life. You might even feel desperate to meet those needs. Ultimately, Jesus is the only person who can give you what you truly need.

Once the Samaritan woman recognized that Jesus was telling the truth and asked Jesus for help, Jesus turned his attention to all the tender places in her story.

Whatever you are going through, I want to remind you that Jesus cares deeply about your pain. He knows your story, and he knows my story, and he loves us anyway. I know this because of how he cared for the woman at the well, who ran back to her city to share the good news. Her testimony wasn’t practiced or refined. She didn’t script out her story or take time to overthink how to word her experience. She dropped what she was doing and took off with the speed of the gospel.

Prayer: God of All Comfort, Thank You for caring about my pain. Help me remember how Jesus tended to the story of the woman at the well, trusting that He does the same with my story. Amen.