GENTRY — “The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.” John 4:15-18

Is anything hidden from the eyes of the LORD God? Is there any sin or shortcoming in our lives of which our Lord Jesus does not know?

When the woman at the well in Samaria, not understanding the living water which Jesus offered her, asked for Jesus to give her some of that water so she would not thirst or have to come to Jacob’s well to draw water, Jesus told her to go and call her husband and come to Jesus at the well.

“The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”

The fact that this woman had had five husbands and was now living together with a man outside of a marriage covenant was not hidden from the eyes of the Lord Jesus. He knows all and sees all. Nothing is hidden from His sight.

As Psalm 90 says, “Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance” (v. 8).

There is nothing about you or me that the Lord Jesus does not know, no secret sin which is not exposed and open before His face. It will do us no good to attempt to hide or cover up our sins and failures to live in accord with God’s commandments. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Did Jesus reject and turn away from this woman because of her sinful past and present? Did He refuse to reach out to her with mercy and forgiveness? The answer is no. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He came into this word to redeem us, to suffer and die for the sins of all, whether Jew or Gentile, whether outwardly righteous or openly known as a sinner. Jesus came to save this Samaritan woman even though the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans because of the Samaritans’ mixed race and corrupted beliefs.

As we stand before the Lord Jesus, nothing hidden from His sight, we pray as David did in Psalm 32:5-6: “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” because “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” ( 1 John 1:9; 2:1,2).

Indeed, it is true that Jesus knows everything about us. No sin, no disobedience, is hidden from His sight. Yet, as He did with the woman at the well in Samaria, He reaches out to us and offers us forgiveness and life in Him - living water which will quench the thirst of our soul for a right relationship with God our Maker.

Lord Jesus, give us this water and satisfy the deepest needs of our thirsty souls. Give us to drink of Your Spirit and to know and trust in You for life everlasting.

O dearest Lord Jesus, Son of God and our Savior, forgive our sins and iniquities, even the secret sins which are open before You, and give unto us Your pardon and peace and a place in Your eternal kingdom. Quench our thirsting souls with the living water which only You can give. Amen.

[Devotion from The Still Small Voice, Gentry, Ark.,

Scripture Quotations from the King James Version of the Bible]

For The Record, Pages 4 on 01/20/2010