What Jesus Said We Would Do If We Knew

I'm supposed to serve in the mundane.  Scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets, scraping boogers off the walls (autistic kids do strange things), pre-treating stains, sorting laundry, washing-drying-folding washing-drying-folding washing-drying-folding, cooking the meals, washing the dishes, tidying the messes.

Why should I have to do this?  My heart is the heart of a writer, after all.  Why do they all expect this of me, and take it (and me) so much for granted?

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink…" (from John 4:10)

Jesus called for the mundane.  Give me a drink.

He did it two thousand years ago, and He does it today. 

Give them a drink.  Give them a clean house.  Give them My love.  Do it all in My name.  You will not lose your reward. (See Mark 9:41 and Matt 25:40)

My heart just does not get it.  I still can't embrace the drudgery.  There must be something missing…some secret I don't know.

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink…"

Lord of the Universe.  Author of Creation.  Alpha and Omega.  Lion of Judah.  Lamb of God.  The Holy One.  The Lord of Hosts.  The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 

He is the One Who says to me, give them a drink.

Then I guess I'd better snap to it, right?  Shape up!  Know your place, servant girl!  Get the water, do the chores…who cares how you feel about it?  Don't you know Who is telling you to do it?  Get off your lazy backside and do it RIGHT NOW!

Is that what the verse says?  Let's look and see.

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked Him…

I would have what?  How did we jump from "being commanded" to "asking?"

Oh, I get it.  Maybe He says, "Jump," and I ask, "How high?"  Is that it?  Time to look at more of that verse.

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you…

Oh…it's not about asking for clarification, then.  It's asking for an actual thing that He can give me.  But why?  I don't get it.  How can the knowledge of Christ make me want to respond to His commands by asking Him for something, instead of just jumping up to obey?

What is it about knowing Him that changes how I serve?

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Ok, now I'm even more confused.  If I really knew who He was, I would respond to his command to "Give water" by asking Him to give water?

Huh?  Why would I ask Him to give me the very thing He's telling me to give Him?

Ohhhh…

What if the only way I can serve Him…truly serve Him in a way that pleases Him…is if He supplies the very thing that He demands?

If I really knew who He was, I would understand that no offering made by my sin-killed flesh could ever please Him.  And if I really knew who He was and knew the Gift of God, I would know that He is graciously pleased to give us the very things that He demands from us. 

Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8

King David understood this concept clearly.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. (1Ch 29:14 NKJV, emphasis added)

David knew that he could only give because God had supplied what he gave.

Many of you, like me, have felt the difference between our soul-wearying hauling and the refreshing outflow of His Spirit.  But so often we stay in lugging mode, laboring to give Jesus water instead of letting Him give it to and through us.

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked…

We know that we often don't have what we want or need because we don't ask (Jas 4:2).  But why don't we ask?  Could it be that we don't know the gift of God well enough?  Are we not intimately enough acquainted with the Savior to recognize that He is the only possible Source to whom we should turn?

Lord, please help us to know You better, to know You so well that it will seem only natural to turn to You for the resources we need to serve You and others.  Don't let us settle for the intellectual knowledge that we "need your help," but rather let us feel the glorious, joyous outpouring of Your Spirit through us, so we'll never misunderstand what it means to serve You again…even when serving You means cleaning toilets and doing laundry.  Amen!