by Erwin Bourne Today I am dealing with a very tough question: “My life’s circumstances seem to have pulled me away from God. How do I find him again?” First of all, let’s define the word—circumstances. Here it is straight from Webster: “A circumstance is a condition, a fact or an event that determines another.” So in my own words, it snowballs. It feeds upon itself. You are the victim. Your circumstances in life provide a big excuse for not doing otherwise. They become an accessory detail in your life’s condition. A line of poetry somehow adds an illustration to the point in question. “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” You art the victim of this tangled web! We’ve been to Webster. Now let’s go to the Bible. Open it up to the Gospel of John, chapter 4. When the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well, and he asked for a drink, she revealed the first circumstance that had her enslaved. She said in surprise, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” Her thirsty soul got her over the first barrier. “Please sir, give me some of that water.” The second barricade was a high one. “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” Dear reader, you have declared that your life’s circumstances seem to have pulled you away from God. And you have asked me, “How do I find him again?” Get your heart wide open. Be honest with God. Jesus said to the woman, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband--. For you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.” With that clear revelation, the Samaritan woman tried to lead Jesus into a theological discussion. “You must be a prophet. So tell me, why….” Jesus led the woman’s longing heart directly into Biblical truth. She said with faith believing, “I know the Messiah will come—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” The woman was at the moment of finding Christ. He said, “I am the Messiah!” We have been to Webster’s dictionary and to the sacred writ. And now let’s go to the Amazon! I watched her walk down the long driveway of the Casa Grande. Something faintly recognizable—as of some distant time--marked her face. We shook hands. She smiled. Then she asked, “Do you recognize me?” “Not really,” I replied. To this she added, “You have taken many pictures of me.” My mind was a blank. She said her name was Lydia. This still drew a blank from me. I searched the shadowy corners of my memory. Absolutely nothing. This Indian woman seemed to have approached my blind side. But God sees everyone and He reads his character like a book. I, at the moment, was still trying to put a history onto the Indigenous woman standing in front of me. She was obviously eight months pregnant. I asked her if she had other children. “Yes, one.” She gave me two clues by mentioning the River Calderon and a man named Lorenzo. “Are you from the department of Caquetà?” “Yes.” ‘At one time weren’t you living at Picuma, Huila?” “Yes.” “Didn’t you have two children by Lorenzo? And didn’t Jean buy them a doll and a truck?” “Yes, yes.” “Didn’t you and Lorenzo live at kilometer eleven with Gustavo? Then you moved to the Calderòn and Lorenzo joined the Israelites—Old Testament saints—and he wears a long beard and is remarried? And you are expecting again!” Circumstances are no longer an excuse. The Samaritan woman’s honesty was the beginning of a revival “Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did.” I have not seen again the indigenous woman from the jungles of Amazonas; but God has a way out of the entanglements of sin and circumstances for every honest soul. Praise God! There’s a way back! —Erwin Bourne <HOME <ARCHIVES