The Samaritan Woman’s Secret About Salvation

I wrote a song called Salvation Is Somebody while attending seminary at The King’s College and Seminary in Van Nuys, California. I was taking a music composition class, and this was one of my assignments, to write a worship song. And this song came out of my spirit.

Here’s the bridge:

Come see a man who told me all I’ve ever done.
Come see Messiah, God’s only begotten Son.
For God so loved the world, He gave Jesus Christ.
Whoever believes in Him will live and not die.
Salvation is somebody.
Salvation for you and me.

That’s basically the ending part of the song. I call it the bridge, and it’s about the woman at the well that Jesus encountered. This woman was a Samaritan, and the Jews didn’t really have any dealings with the Samaritans. They didn’t have a good relationship. So it was kind of unusual that Jesus, being a Jew, was speaking to her. But because He is the Lord, He knows everything, and He doesn’t discriminate.

Jesus told the woman at the well to go get her husband. She said, “I have no husband.” And He said, “You’re right. You spoke well, because you’ve had five husbands, and the one you’re with now is not your husband.” And she said, “Wow, I perceive that you’re a prophet.” He had just read her mail, her dirty laundry, revealing that she had been married five times and was now living with a man who wasn’t her husband, John 4:16-19.

I just want to talk a little bit about that. Here’s a lady who obviously has gone through a lot of heartbreak in life. Anyone who’s been married five times has had to experience deep pain. In and out of love, in and out of love, in and out of love, in and out of love, in and out of love, five heartbreaks, the ultimate heartbreak of marriage. Who knows what happened? Why she had to be divorced five times? What was she seeking? What was she searching for?

She was searching for some kind of love that she wasn’t finding in a man. And so much so that she gave up on marriage altogether. She was living with a man, just as Jesus said, “The one you’re with now is not your husband,” John 4:18. How many people today are living like that? Just living together because they’ve been hurt, they’re bitter, they’ve lost faith in love. Maybe you’ve been divorced once, twice, maybe even three times, and now you think, I’ll just live with someone. We don’t need to get married.

I understand that feeling because I was thinking that same way. I’ve been through a messy divorce that was very painful. I even lost my child, the most painful thing in my life, at least in my adulthood. I was bitter. I didn’t date for a long time. Then I met someone and fell in love, and I thought we could just be together without marriage. I told myself, We don’t have to get married. We can just live together, hang out, have a life together. Why go through all that formality?

Deep down, I was afraid. What if it doesn’t work out? I didn’t want to go through another divorce. I didn’t want to feel that pain again. I didn’t trust that my heart could take any more. So I thought, Let’s just keep it simple. Let’s just have sex, hang out, even live together, but not go any further. Then the Lord said to me, “You’re bitter.” He was right of course, and I repented.

And yet, Jesus read this lady’s story, and mine, with compassion. He didn’t judge her. He didn’t say, “Shame on you for being married five times and now living with someone.” He didn’t even address it with condemnation. He just told her the truth of her life, and then He revealed who He is, the Messiah. The one she’d been searching for all along.

He told her He could give her everlasting life, living water, the kind of water that satisfies the soul forever. She wouldn’t have to come to the well again to draw water. The water He offers is pure, fresh, and flows from within, rivers of living water. And she said, “Sir, give me this living water,” John 4:15.

Maybe you’ve been lost in love, going through relationship ups and downs, breakups and makeups. Maybe that’s not really what you need. Maybe you need the living water, the water that Jesus offers. He’s still pouring it out, and He wants you to drink from His well of life everlasting.

Will you bring your water pot to the well of life, Jesus Christ?

God bless, Shirah Chante, Your Relationship Coach

PS – Listen to Salvation Is Somebody on Midnight Prayer.