Jesus meets you in the ordinary: the woman at the well (John 4)
- Allison Jones
- Feb 21
- 3 min read
CATEGORY: Scripture & Sanctification
FEBRUARY THEME: Surely God Is Here (Genesis 28:10–22)
BIG QUESTION:
How do we wake up to the God who is already here?
Where we are in the study:
Week 3—this is the “waking up” week. Jacob realizes, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it,” and we’re learning what awareness looks like in real life.
PRIMARY PASSAGE (read in full here, NASB)
Genesis 28:10–22:
SUPPORTING PASSAGE (read in full here, NASB)
John 4:7–38:
One of the hardest things about an in-between season is not the pain.
It’s the ordinariness.
The same errands.
The same conversations.
The same needs.
The same “I thought I’d be past this by now.”
But Scripture keeps showing us something we forget:
God does not reserve His attention for big spiritual moments.
He meets people in ordinary places.
Genesis 28 is a road.
John 4 is a well.
In John 4, Jesus meets a woman in the middle of a normal task—drawing water—and He starts the conversation. (John 4:7)
No stage. No fanfare. No announcement.
Just a well, a person, and the Messiah initiating.
That detail matters.
Because it tells the truth about how God often works:
He comes close in the middle of life, not only after life gets calm.
What’s striking in the story isn’t just what Jesus says.
It’s where He says it—and how willing He is to meet her honestly.
He asks for a drink.
He draws her into conversation.
And then He goes deeper than her jar—toward her thirst.
It’s a reminder that our most “ordinary” places are often the very places Jesus chooses for His most personal work.
Now hold that next to Genesis 28.
Jacob is also in an ordinary place.
He’s traveling.
He’s tired.
He’s not in control.
He’s not at a destination.
And God meets him anyway.
Then Jacob wakes up and says what many of us could say if we’re honest:
“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Subject sentence (factual):
God meets people in ordinary places and reveals His presence before they’re aware of it.
Aim (what I want for you today):
I want you to stop waiting for a different setting and start getting honest with Jesus right where you are.
What might we be missing?
We tend to look for God in outcomes.
In answers.
In “resolved.”
In the moment we finally feel stable.
But God often reveals Himself in interruptions—moments where you have to stop, listen, and be honest.
And the gift of the ordinary place is this:
It strips away performance.
At the well, the woman can’t hide behind a polished life.
On the road, Jacob can’t hide behind a settled one.
In both places, God initiates anyway.
One misread to clear up:
“When my life is calmer, then I’ll be ready for God to use me.”
But in John 4, the woman’s encounter happens before her life is tidy—and her witness flows from meeting Jesus, not from achieving stability.
So if you’re in an ordinary place today, consider this:
Your ordinary place might be your “well.”
And Jesus might be closer than your feelings are willing to admit.
Try this shift:
Instead of asking, “How do I get out of this season?”
Ask, “What is Jesus revealing about my true thirst?”
Because that’s what Jesus does at the well.
He doesn’t merely adjust the woman’s schedule.
He addresses her soul.
Diagnostic question:
Where am I demanding a different setting before I’ll be honest with God?
5–10 minute practice (The well prayer — 8 minutes)
1) Write: “My ordinary place right now is ________.” (car line, office, sink, lonely evenings, the waiting room, the budget spreadsheet, the same hard conversation)
2) Write: “My deeper thirst underneath that is ________.” (approval, control, comfort, being seen, certainty, relief)
3) Pray: “Jesus, meet me here. Satisfy what I keep trying to satisfy elsewhere.”
Next layer coming:
This Sunday’s Lampstand will focus on Genesis 28:16–19—waking up to God’s nearness, reverence without performance, and how to mark what God is doing so you remember it when the ordinary starts to blur again.
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