IF THOU
KNEWEST THE
A weary One sat at Jacob’s well;
He had left the land of the Pharisees.
It was Jesus. He came in love to
His own, to save them from their sins; but they received Him not. Weary and grieved was His tender heart, as He
sat about the sixth hour at Jacob’s well.
There is a woman coming with her
waterpot to the well. She is one to
whom the proud Pharisees would scorn to speak.
She is a despised Samaritan, and that is not all; she is a poor wretched
being, living in open sin. She little
knows that she is about to meet the eye of Him who knows all that ever she
did. She arriv4s at the well, and is
astonished that Jesus, being a Jew, should ask her to give Him to drink. “Jesus answered, and said unto her, If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink;
thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.”
John 4:10.
He did not say, If thou wert not
so great a sinner. He did not say, If
thou wilt reform and become a holy woman, then I will give thee living water.
No! No! No! He let her know, that He knew all that ever she had done. But there was such a depth of pity, grace,
and compassion in the wondrous countenance, such tender love to the sinner in
those words, that it won her heart, it converted her soul. Christ was revealed to her; and leaving her
waterpot she went to the city so full o Christ, that forgetting her own shame,
she said, “Come see a man which told me all that ever I did: is not this the
Christ?”
My reader, can you meet the eye of
Him who knows every thought of your heart from childhood? All that ever you did, open and naked to His
eye! And can you say that you are not a
sinner? How was it that there was
nothing in Jesus to repel this wretched sinner? And what can those words mean, “If thou knewest the gift of God,”
etc.? Is this the one great thing needed by a poor wretched sinner? It is; there can be no mistake about it, for
Jesus says it. Of whatever nation my
reader may be, whatever the sins you may have committed, the first thing you
need is not the waters of the
Do you ask who and what is the
gift of God? The same that met that
poor Samaritan sinner; Jesus the Son of God; as also it is written, “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “The gift of God is eternal life.” “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God,
hath not life.”
My reader, it is a gift, a gift, a
gift; oh, if you knew this! You cannot buy it; you cannot merit it. He that knows all that ever you did, all
that you are, sets before you Jesus the crucified; Jesus the risen one; Jesus
the glorified. Do you know Him the gift of all gifts?
Do you say, “but my sins are heavy, they press me down, what must I do?” If you knew the gift of God! Yes, even though you have committed every sin that has been done in this dark world, yet God’s gift,” redemption through His blood” abounds above it all. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” His very business was saving just such burdened, weary, heavy-hearted sinners as you are. Blessed be His holy name, the work is finished. May God reveal to your soul, my reader, Jesus Christ. Change of life and holiness of life will follow. But the first thing is the gift of God.
Charles Stanley