The woman at the well, and Lot's wife

   There is a wide variety of characters in the Bible. Some were great, some were not. Some good, some bad..... I think the reason a lot of them are included is to give us hope. Not all of us are like Enoch or Elisha. Some of us are like David, who messed up a lot, yet was a man after God's own heart.

  Lately, I have been identifying with a couple of women in the Bible. Neither is named, yet hold a prominent place in Scripture: The woman at the well, and Lot's wife.

  From the short narrative in John, we get the idea that the woman at the well wasn't a good woman. She had had 5 husbands and was living with a guy she wasn't married to. She sounds like she wasn't a good moral person. Very likely, she had been with other men besides the six mentioned by Jesus. To top it off, she was a Samaritan. They were like the scum of the earth to Jews, yet here is Jesus, a Jew, talking to a Samaritan woman, and an immoral one at that. Yet Jesus talked to her, and it seems He deliberately went through Samaria to seek her out. Amazing.

  I've got a long list of sexual conquests. Mine is most likely longer than hers, but if He'd forgive her immorality, why not mine? He doesn't have a limit on sins He will forgive, yet the devil has had me convinced for years that I had sinned too many times, that my sin was too bad to be completely forgiven.... but that isn't true. And He offers that same living water to me, yet I keep going back to the wells that don't satisfy. Is it because I have never plunged in completely? If He could rescue  the woman at the well, He can rescue me.

  Lot's wife.... they were told to not look back while fleeing Sodom, and was instantly turned to a pillar of salt. Jesus used her as a warning in the New Testament: "remember Lot's wife." Meaning what, exactly? It could be a warning about her being too attached to worldly possessions....

  I was watching the Bible miniseries on DVD last night and watched the part about Sodom being destroyed, and something hit me, for the first time that I know of. I have lost track of how many times I have repented and quit the porn and sex, only to fall back. I think there is more than one reason, and I think the biggest one that overshadows all, is the fact that I have never had the right view of God, His love, nor did I love Him....... but this new thought hit me.... I also look back. I think about the pleasure that I gave up. I find myself thinking about all the gay guys that are out there engaging in pleasure, and there I am, alone and no pleasure.... I've done just like Lot's wife, and looked back...... and then I go back. If God did to me like Lot's wife, I'd have become a pillar of salt years ago, yet He has not cut me off....... thank God He hasn't. May God help me to truly find Him, and when I do, not look back for anything.