What if I told you that there is someone who fully knows you, fully sees you, and in spite of your flaws, fully loves you no matter what? That person is Jesus. When you take a moment to recognize that being truly seen by Jesus will change your life, you can walk confidently in your identity in Christ as being seen. We’ll cover 5 truths as we look into the story of the Samaritan woman.
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN: EP 11
Oh man, preparing for this episode was different. I had three women in the Bible as contenders for the focus of this episode, but after prayer and reflection, the choices were whittled down to one gal. I strongly encourage you to read the stories of the other women I briefly mention, but don’t deep dive into this week. Their stories are remarkable, and each highlights a different way God sees them.
For some reason, I have been pointed to featuring the story of the woman at the well. So, I know that there is someone out there who specifically needs to hear about her today. As you listen, if you recognize that’s you, consider this your sign to connect with God, and tell Him what’s on your heart.
Truth #1: Wired with Desires
God wired us humans with innate desires. This is intentional and serves a purpose. Like any desire, when we take it to God, He is the one who can truly satisfy us. The list of innate desires is extensive, but I’m going to rattle off four for you. Notetakers, here ya go!
- desire for connection
- sense of belonging
- longing to be known
- need for water
To put it simply, connecting, belonging, and being known are all ways of being seen. When we cross the line of faith, we are united with our Christian family with God as the Father (see episodes 2 and 7 for a deeper dive on this). As for the need for water, sit tight, I’ll get there in a few minutes.
Here’s the thing about naturally being wired with specific desires…we’ll go looking for whatever fills that space. Unfortunately, we go looking in the wrong places a lot of the time. Darn it! This is when we pause, turn to God, and hear what He has to say. We can do this through reading the Bible and talking with Him. Bottom line, being truly seen by Jesus will change your life if you let it! You are seen!
Truth #2: God Meets These Desires
The more we read our Bibles, the more God reveals our nature and how we fit in God’s plan. This brings us to truth #2: God Meets These Desires. As followers of Christ, we can fully trust what the Bible says. All of it is from God, and it’s alive and working. We know that God fulfills the four human desires I mentioned earlier, and being seen by God is woven throughout scripture.
Scripture to Back This Up
Genesis 16:13 says, “Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” Hagar has quite the interesting story, you should check it out when you have a chance. Hagar was one of three women that I debated on using in this episode today, so I had to give her a shout out. Check out her story in Genesis.
Psalm 33:13 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.” He sees all of us. Not just look at humans, sees the people He created. He’s not ignoring us, or abandoning us. He chooses to acknowledge us.
Psalm 55:22 says, “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.” Not only does He see us, He promises to take care of us. When we give our pain to God, we can fully trust that He sees us in our struggle, and keeps us steady.
Psalm 139:14 says, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” God made you uniquely you! You’re the only you that will ever exist, and that’s not accident. He made you with all your strengths, traits, and quirks to leverage for His glory. Next time someones calls you complicated, tell them thank you, because God made you complex on purpose!
Jeremiah 1:5 says, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” This is wild to try to wrap your brain around. Before we even had an idea of our existence, God knew. He knew what He was doing then, and He knows what He’s doing now. If you’re a follower of Christ, you have been set apart and appointed (shout out back to episode 3 about our identity of being chosen).
Matthew 10:29-30 says, “ What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” First of all, I have a lot of hair, and I have no desire to spend a million hours counting each strand. Every time I brush my hair, God knows the number has changed. He doesn’t miss a thing! God it the greatest noticer, and nothing sneaks by Him. He sees it all and He sees you!
These scriptures show that God truly sees us. When we put our trust in Him, and truly mean our trust (no halfhearted, people…no one functions with half a heart), we give ourselves the opportunity for our feelings to catch up with what we know is true. God is who He says He is, and does what He says He’s going to do. Being truly seen by Jesus will change your life if you let it! You are seen!
Truth #3: Jesus is the Living Water
Remember that fourth random-seeming desire of needing water? This is where it’ll make sense. Let’s flash back about 2000 years ago to grown up Jesus in full on ministry mode. We’ll be taking a peek at John chapter 4 (the same guy we talked about in episode 6), so if you’re wanting some detailed background, read John chapters 1-3 on your own. Here’s the Brooke Breakdown version:
- John Ch 1: Christ, the Eternal Word, JTB’s testimony (we talked about him in episode 3), Jesus is the Lamb of God, and Jesus gains His first disciples
- John Ch 2: The wedding at Cana (shout out first miracle!), Jesus clears the temple (Jesus whips it into shape, pun intended), and we get our first look at a guy named Nicodemus
- John Ch 3: Jesus and Nicodemus have a very important chat, JTB exalts Jesus
And here we are with chapter 4: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. I strongly encourage you to read the full chapter on your own so you can catch all the details we don’t cover today. Jesus, super intentionally, heads to Samaria with his disciples, and arrives in a village of Sychar.
Fun fact: Jesus on is fully God and fully man at the same time. This means His human body got tired and sore just like us moms trying to carry in all the groceries with one trip while holding the baby in the car seat and carrying our Stanley cups. After Jesus takes quite the stroll (and by stroll, I mean shaking off the angry, mean Pharisees) he takes a break at a nearby well. This well so happens to be Jacob’s well that was given to his son Joseph with the cool coat (throwback to the Old Testament).
Brooke Breakdown time of John Ch 4:1-42:
- It’s the middle of the day (hot) and a Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well
- Jesus asks her for a drink, which was a crazy thing to do at the time, since Jews and Samaritans weren’t on great terms and didn’t speak to each other
- She’s all, “Um, you do realize it’s absolutely bananas that you’re talking to me, right?”
- Jesus says back, “If you only knew who I am, you’d be asking me for for a drink.”
- Jesus then proceeds to tell this woman exactly who she is, what she’s done, and drops truth bombs, and then he says that He is the Messiah!
Let’s pause for a second. The “who she is and what she’s done” part is where we need to do a double take. This is where we can get hasty with our reading plans, and miss the significance of the moment. Here’s John 4:15-18 where Jesus had just mention the Living Water (aka Himself):
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!”
John 4:15-18
Your Samaritan girl is doing some things, y’all. And before we accidentally go “holier than Thou”, I know we’ve all done some things we’re not proud of, so let’s just chill and see how Jesus handles it. The point we need to keep in mind with truth #3 is that Jesus is the living water, and when we put our faith in Him, we are eternally sated. Being truly seen by Jesus will change your life if you let it! Embrace your identity of being seen!
Truth #4: God Sees Us in Our Mess
Here’s the huge takeaway for me in the Samaritan woman’s story. God sees her in the middle of her mess. Jesus sees the Samaritan woman. All of her. The worst parts of her. The unspeakable parts. The parts that are whispered behind her back as she goes to the well for water in the middle of the day instead of the morning when everyone else gets to do it.
Have you felt this? Have you heard the whispers of past sins trying to haunt you? Ever been shunned out of a group? It hurts, and it can bring feelings of shame and loneliness, and a sense of wanting to hide. Sister, what did Jesus do for the Samaritan woman? He calls out her sin and still offers her living water, him.
Plus, He manages to do this without her feeling humiliated or unloved. What a beautiful example of being fully seen, fully known, and fully loved. This is such an amazing feeling! Do you know this feeling of letting the living water rush over you? Will you let God see you in the middle of your mess, talk it out with Him, and accept His unconditional love for you? Being truly seen by Jesus will change your life if you let it! You are seen!
As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, I debated writing about Hagar and her experience with being seen. I also debated writing about the woman with the issue of blood, and Jesus seeing all of her and healing her. What a great story.
You can read it in Matthew 9:18-22, Mark 5:21-34, or in Luke 8:43-48 depending on your preference. You can always do a fun compare/contrast game and see which perspective strikes you best in this season. When it came down to decision time, I knew we needed to talk about the Samaritan woman today.
Truth #5: You’re Called to Tell
Her story doesn’t stop there. This Samaritan women recognizes the fact that accepting Christ as your savior isn’t the end goal, it’s the starting line. And, ya girl is ready to run that race! Here’s what she does:
“Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, ‘He told me everything I ever did!’ When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.’”
John 4:39-42
One meeting. One well. One chat. A story to tell. The Samaritan woman realized the significance of what she experienced. She didn’t let her past get in the way of telling her entire village about Jesus. The title of the section I just read is “Many Samaritans Believe”. What the devil meant for shame and disgrace, she set that aside and told people about the Messiah.
Here’s the gut check question of the day: What is holding you back from sharing about Jesus? If we know that being truly seen by Jesus will change your life, why not tell your village? If this question is making you queazy in your guts, I would highly recommend listening to episode 8. That will significantly help you.
The Samaritan woman was bold. She leveraged her past with the truth about Jesus, and told everybody. The Samaritan woman can remind us that that being truly seen by Jesus will change your life if you let it!
Podcast Recap
- Truth #1: Wired with Desires (four of many desires)
- Truth #2: God Meets these Desires (scripture)
- Truth #3: Jesus is the Living Water (eternally quenched)
- Truth #4: God Sees Us in Our Mess (accept being seen)
- Truth #5: You’re Called to Run (spread the word)
Scripture Recap
- Genesis 16:13
- Psalm 33:13
- Psalm 55:22
- Psalm 139:14
- Jeremiah 1:5
- Matthew 10:29-30
- John 4: 15-18, 39-42
I am the daughter of the King. I am chosen, forgiven, redeemed. I am loved and I belong. I am bold, brave, and strong. I am seen. I’m accepted. I am able. I’m protected. Through Him I can do anything. Because I’m the daughter of the King.
Busy Christian Mom Credo, Brooke Collier
Links from the Show:
- Brooke Collier Instagram
- Busy Christian Mom Etsy Shop
- Identity Crisis Mini Series
- Episode 2: 3 Ways to Avoid the Motherhood Identity Crisis
- Episode 3: 6 Bible Verses that Prove that What You’re Doing Isn’t Meaningless
- Episode 7: 4 Mistakes that Keep You Feeling Like an Outsider in Your Spiritual Life
- Episode 8: 4 Decisions for Bold Action with Your Faith
