He Leads Us Through What We Want to Go Around

"On His way He had to pass through Samaria" (John 4:4)

"On His way He had to pass through Samaria" (John 4:4).

Jesus often leads us into places we would never choose.
And that's where discipleship usually begins-
walking with Him into uncertainty before we understand why.

In fact, that's exactly what His new disciples were experiencing in Jerusalem.
Momentum was building.
Crowds were growing.
From a human standpoint, this was the moment to stay.

But Jesus left Jerusalem and turned north toward Galilee-
straight toward Samaria.

To feel the weight of that,
we need to remember what Samaria was.

Centuries earlier-722 BC-when Assyria conquered
the ten tribes of Israel's northern kingdom
(Judea was the southern kingdom),
they resettled foreign peoples in the land.

Those who remained intermarried with the newcomers,
forming a mixed community-Samaritans.
They worshiped Israel's God,
but held only to the Pentateuch-
the first five books of the Old Testament-
and built their own temple on Mount Gerizim.

Generations of tension followed.
Many Jews viewed Samaritans as half-breeds-
religiously compromised and ethnically mixed-
and believed that even stepping on Samaritan soil
would defile them.

Yet here were the disciples,
walking with Jesus straight into the region
they had spent their lives avoiding.

They didn't know about the well,
the woman,
the village,
the two-day stay,
or the harvest waiting for them there.

They only knew Jesus was walking ahead of them
into a place they had never been-
and they needed to trust His leading.

Sometimes God's greatest works unfold
in the places we avoid-
the places we would never choose,
the places that reveal their purpose
only after we've walked through them.

You may not know this about Jeus-He leads us through what we want to go around.

Where is Jesus leading me that I would never choose on my own?

If Jesus leads me somewhere unfamiliar, I will follow Him.
He knows what waits there-mercy, growth, and fruit.

Father, thank You for leading me into unfamiliar places
where the harvest You prepared is waiting.
Strengthen my trust as I follow Him.
In Jesus' name, Amen.