"He must needs go..."

John 4:4

Last year, during a school event, we had a three-legged race. I paired up with a kid I thought would be coordinated enough to race with me. We never did get in sync, and I ended up picking him up and running. If you have never actually ran in a three-legged race, it requires that the pair be in unity. If not, one or both of them will fall. However, when you work together, it is a lot of fun because you know that you and your partner are in sync and accomplishing something that is not easy to do.

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And he must needs go through Samaria.

John 4:4

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I normally use the NKJV for my devotions so that the language of the scripture is clear. However, in this case the KJV presents Jesus's need as an imperative that is not quite as clear in the NKJV. It needs to be understood that Jesus HAD to go through Samaria. As we will see, this was not an option if He was going to live a life of obedience.

The two words "must needs" comes from one Greek word "dei" (pronounced die). Larry Pierce, in his Outline of Biblical Usage describes this Greek word as:

"necessity established by the counsel and decree of God, especially by that purpose of his which relates to the salvation of men by the intervention of Christ and which is disclosed in the Old Testament prophecies."

Jesus had to go through Samaria because God decreed it. Anything else would have been to be disobedient and thus to sin. Jesus would have been disqualified from being the sacrifice for our sins. Also, as described in this definition, the purpose of this "need" was for the salvation of people.

Another interesting point is that the Greek word "dei" comes from a root word that means "to tie" or "to bind". I like this! Jesus bound Himself to the will of His Father. The two were inseparable. Just like the three-legged race, one person has to take lead, and the other has to submit to that one's authority. In the case of Jesus and the Father, Jesus humbled Himself to be under the authority of the Father (Philippians 2:6).

As Christians, we are to submit ourselves to the will of God. Many times we say that we serve God, but in reality the expectation is that He serves us. We talk about "naming and claiming" the promises of God, but much of what we are "claiming" was never actually promised to us.

However, since we said it, we expect God to do what we said. When this doesn't happen, we doubt the faithfulness of God. Instead of "naming and claiming", we should focus on surrendering to whatever God ordains for us. As the song says, "Where He leads me I will follow".

When God tells us to do something, we should take the attitude of Jesus. We should say "I must do..." or "I must go...". We remove the option of disobedience. This might mean that we have to go somewhere we would not normally have gone. It might mean we have to go somewhere we don't want to go. It might mean we have to talk to someone we might not ever have talked to. However, if God decrees it, it is for our good and for the salvation of others. This is what it means to be Christians.

Father, thank You for allowing us to be a part of Your will. You give us the opportunity to be like Jesus by surrendering to Your will. You allow us to be a part of Your salvation work. Change our hearts so that we bind ourselves to Your will, and we willingly become bondservants to You.