In a nutshell, John 4:1-26 is about the story of a Samaritan woman that Jesus spoke to by the well. The woman failed to recognize Jesus as the "Messiah", until Jesus told her so.
WHY DID SHE NOT RECOGNIZE JESUS?
Jesus was clear to say that the woman did not recognize Him because she "worship what she doesn't know" (see verse 22). A statement that led me to ponder, "Do I really know Jesus?"
If Jesus were to sit beside me at the bus station, would I have recognized Him? If He were to share a table with me at McDonald's, would I have known it was Him? While I was reading this scripture, somehow, I perceived that this Samaritan woman thought that the day she met Jesus was just any other ordinary day. She might have been just doing her daily routine and it so happened that when she went out to get water a stranger was sitting by the well, asked her for water, and started a conversation with her.
It was not unnatural for a stranger to be sitting by the well, it is a public space to begin with. I am certain that the Samaritan woman did not find anything unusual in the scenario.
You see, if Jesus spoke to her with thunders and lightning, or with signs and wonders, most definitely, the woman, without knowing Jesus' identity would immediately realize that Jesus is God and worship Him but Jesus doesn't approach us in the way that we imagine He would.
God doesn't always speak to us not in a way that we expect or assume, not with a thunderous voice but He does speak to us. Most of the time, God speaks to us through His written word or in the simplest ways that He could. I have come to love this scripture and how it teaches us that God can meet us wherever we are and in the most seemingly normal situation. So do not be discouraged if you don't get goosebumps or a striking revelation in your daily pursuit of God, that doesn't define your relationship with Him, being spiritually hyped is not the measure of our faith.
Yes, God does show His wonders every now and then. Yes, He is Holy, wonderful, great and awesome. However, if we are to look at the life of Elijah we would learn something very interesting.
(1 Kings 19: 11-13) All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks. But the Lord was not in the wind. Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
Finally, there was a gentle breeze, and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.
The Lord asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”
Here, we can see that Elijah was hiding inside a cave in the mountains. Notice how the scripture gave emphasis on how the Lord was not in the strong wind, earthquake, or fire, but the Lord spoke to Elijah through a gentle breeze.
A part of knowing God is knowing His voice regardless of the channel that He uses to speak to us. God can speak to us through a TV commercial, a Facebook post, a book that we are reading, a piece of music that we are listening to, or even through the people whom we are speaking with, God can speak directly to our hearts. God can speak to us in any way He wants but the trick here lies in our ability to recognize His voice when He speaks. Knowing God is knowing His majesty but it is also knowing His meekness and how sometimes God appears to us in simplicity.
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