Restored Dignity

Restored Dignity
By Shirley Mitchell

"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?".Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water."I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
John 4:7,10,17

When Jesus met the women at the well, He offered her the gift of God first. Then, He confronted her sin which He knew His gift could heal. While the woman spoke a true statement that she had no husband, Jesus would not let her sidestep the issue. He also did not lecture her about her sin. He did not pull out His tract of the 10 commandments and point His finger at the Law. He only spoke the truth about the facts of her life. He told her He knew her life was a mess. He knew that she knew her life was a failure.

Does anyone set out to become a failure? Does any little girl say enthusiastically, "My dream is to be the town's floozy when I grow up?" Of course not! I see her as a little girl dreaming of the wonderful life she would have some day...Perhaps married to the perfect husband who would treat her right and love her dearly. Regardless of the specific dream to have a husband or remain single, she dreamed of a life of beauty and happiness. She never dreamed her life would become so hopeless, sad, and messed up.

Yet the road to failure began long before she moved in with the sixth man and even long before she married the second man. Somewhere from little girl to young married girl, she lost sight of her dream. Was it because she could not have close relationships and she was trying to kill the desire she had within her to have intimate relationships so she would be safe and in control? Or was it because she started to believe the negative words of her unloving parents or her teasing peers? Or was it because she never learned discipline, and she could not take everything she wanted?

God left out many details of how the Samaritan woman had come to have five husbands and to be living with a man who was not her husband. She was willing to forsake the morals of her society in order to have what she thought she needed most. We do not know if she lost her innocence at an early age by another's force. We do not know if she lost it because of her own decisions. I think God purposefully left out the details so women with all types of experiences can relate to her because the idea is the same for both stolen dignity and squandered dignity. She had lost the knowledge she was worth something. She was precious. In her case, with its loss, she began a life of sin. Her sin was a manifestation of her attempts to satisfy her deep need which was a crater size hole inside of her only the Living Water could touch and heal.

I see her like many women today. Deep inside, if we can admit it or not, we all want someone of importance to love us. Why? Then we will be proven as valuable and a treasure. I see her as a girl who wanted to be someone's pursuit, someone's top priority. She had no idea how to get it. She was unwilling to wait until she knew the right way to get it so she looked for love in all the wrong places.

She was the town scandal. "Good" and "proper" women would not associate with her. She knew loneliness. Then, Jesus, the Living Water, filled the dark recesses of her soul. When she was filled with His love and acceptance, she reached out to the other people in the village because a person full of love is led to give love. You can't give what you have not received. She immediately made the decision to tell the women who scorned her about Jesus. It also demonstrates the human desire to want to belong. They could no longer hurt her because she was satisfied and healed. There was no weighing of the costs to share/not share her news of the Messiah.

These are the actions and words of a woman who has been rescued. She was freed from the chains of bondage. She was no longer hiding. Her shame no longer haunted her. No longer did she think "I am not good enough", "I have too many issues", or "I am too needy". She felt beautiful again. She felt like she was someone of importance and a priority to someone of great importance - the long awaited Messiah. She felt alive again. She was no longer under the oppression of her sins. Jesus restored the deep, but lost, feeling in her heart that told her life was supposed to be more than what she was living. Jesus restored her worth. He lifted the burden. He removed the condemnation. He took away her shame. She now understood she was valuable.

Do you know what Jesus did for her that day at the well is exactly what He wants to give every woman? For you, beloved, do you ever think you are unimportant? Unnoticed? No, no, no, sweetheart. He knows right where you are. He knows right where you are going. Your God anticipates the time He will be revealed to you just as much as a secret admirer anticipates his revealing. He is arranging encounters between Him and you along the way. I pray you will someday be at a point where He will lead, and you will follow, and the paths will never need to cross again for the two paths have become one.

Pray with me: Oh, Holy God, fill me up with Your Living Water. Fill the dark empty places of my soul with You! Restore dignity to me. Restore dignity to my sisters in Christ- including those who squandered their dignity or had it stolen. May we realize that You are our Un-secret Admirer and Shame Remover. We have found the Well that supplies everything that we have ever needed and everything that we have ever wanted. We freely give You all that we have of us, entrust You with our lives, and commit to make Your path, our path. It's in the Name above of names and the Name that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, I pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study
Copyright 2009 © Christ Compels