oh well: too deep, too far, too little and too hard‏

 

So Chambers took the past few days to pound this point into my skull
 

The woman said to Him, ’Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep’ —John 4:11

…beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, “Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself.” If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable or incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. Andour pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can’t.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly— “Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.”

“Where then do You get that living water?” —John 4:11

“The well is deep”— and even a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! (John 4:11). Think of the depths of human nature and human life; think of the depth of the “wells” in you. Have you been limiting, or impoverishing, the ministry of Jesus to the point that He is unable to work in your life? Suppose that you have a deep “well” of hurt and trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says to you, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1). Would your response be to shrug your shoulders and say, “But, Lord, the well is too deep, and even You can’t draw up quietness and comfort out of it.” Actually, that is correct.Jesus doesn’t bring anything up from the wells of human nature— He brings them down from above. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering only what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and also by saying, “Of course, I cannot expect God to do this particular thing.” The thing that approaches the very limits of His poweris the very thing we as disciples of Jesus ought to believe He will do. We impoverish and weaken His ministry in us the moment we forget He is almighty. The impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus for Him to be our comforter or our sympathizer, but we refrain from approaching Him as our Almighty God.

The reason some of us are such poor examples of Christianity is that we have failed to recognize that Christ is almighty. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment or surrender to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying, “Of course, He can’t do anything about this.” We struggle to reach the bottom of our own well, trying to get water for ourselves. Beware of sitting back, and saying, “It can’t be done.” You will know it can be done if you will look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness runs deep, but make the effort to look away from yourself and to look toward Him.

It is the sin of unbelief that produces the idea that we are too weak to be strong in Him.

It is the sin of pride to use your inferiority as a basis of demeaning His majesty.

It is the sin of gluttony to feast upon insecurity when He declares a fast.

It is the sin of morbid introspection that leads us to put immovable obstacles between Him and us in declaring Him too powerless to raze.

Do NOT look within.

It IS too deep.

It IS too hard.

It IS too far.

For you.

Do not refuse Him because you cannot get a bucket down far enough.

Do not reject Him because He does not come with a bucket.

Repent of your insistence on being saved a certain way.

It is deep.

But He’s deeper.

From its mouth to its mire, the well within you is seemingly bottomless.

He eclipsed the distance from heaven to earth, from God to man by a spotless life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

He can handle the plunge to draw you out and up to God.