Never Forsaken: God Always Has a Good Plan

By Lydiah Tate

God always has a good plan, regardless of our circumstances. He
sees us through some of the most difficult situations in our lives.
We can easily be discouraged to give up when we go through
adversity, but there is a God who is able to see us through.
Adversities can be a bridge that gets us to where we are meant to
be, depending on how we respond to it. Adversity is part of God’s
divine plan, if we seek him in the midst of it. We blossom to His
perfect plan when we seek Him whole heartedly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664121355

Lydiah Tate

to follow

Book preview

Chapter One

God’s Plan for the Samaritan Woman

I n John Chapter 4, Jesus meets with a woman in the city of Samaria at Jacob’s well. He asks for a drink from the Samaritan woman. The woman is astounded that a Jew has asked her for water. But Jesus states that the water He shall give her will be everlasting. The Samaritan woman asks Jesus for this water. The woman was a 5 times loser in marriage. Jesus came to minister to the woman about her condition. Jesus knew that she was a social outcast because she had been divorced many times. She was surprised that Jesus gave her the attention she had desired all her life. It is evident from the Samaritan woman’s experience that that our most important relational needs can only be met by God.

The story of the woman at the well in John 4 is no surprise to many men and women in society today. Like many, she had experienced life challenges that only God could understand. The Bible states that she was on her fifth husband. Many would read that and judge this woman, who perhaps was in this situation not because she was promiscuous but because God had a plan for her. Perhaps she was created for a greater purpose, and unless she went through these challenges, she may not have ended up at the well to meet her True Love. Often, I have credited her for being bold. She had learnt to survive in the harsh environment of the society that judged and pointed fingers at her. Interesting that some men still found her attractive enough to marry her, or perhaps she had become vulnerable to an extent where men saw her as a woman they could play around with. Maybe she was considered a second class citizen in the marital kingdom. Maybe she was considered used goods by men who saw an opportunity to make it their pleasure to disrespect, use, abuse and abandon her. Or perhaps she had not learnt her worth and allowed herself to be played and misused. Perhaps she forgot that she was beautifully and wonderfully made, and that she was created for God’s purpose and that alone.

Maybe she had a desire to have a family and failed at every attempt. Her audacity to keep trying is a fascination to many who fail at one relationship and never try again. Her persistence led her to Samaria where she did not belong. Her past had made her bold to be in a community where she would be considered an outcast. She may have been running away from the shame of her past marriages, and hoped for a chance to start life in a new city. Perhaps her people had rejected her, and her only option was to find a home in a place where no one knew her. She might have been in Samaria looking for greener pastures. The Bible does not say she had children, but there could be a possibility. The tenacity of this woman was one of survival of the fittest. Greener pasture to the woman at the well may have been another man who could be her cover, her protector, her provider and her security. She had not learnt that Jesus alone could provide for her needs.

When she meets Jesus at the well, she addresses him with confidence and boldness. How could a woman who had been through five husbands be so bold to a strange man? It is fascinating to me that she addresses Christ in a defensive way. I imagine (she) had (her) guard up, perhaps trying to make sure she was not setting herself up for another bad relationship. Was she hiding her pain or fighting not to be transparent to this man at the well? Was she fearful that her reputation had followed her and that this man was just like all the others and was up to taking advantage of her? Could this man have been from her past and was here to ridicule her? Did this man know her pain and was here to humiliate her? It is possible that these questions went through her head, just to realize that her troubles were about to end, and that her destiny was before her. Perhaps she had experienced talking to men and listening to the strange man at the well was no task. She becomes defensive because she is afraid this man may be seeing through her. She looks at herself as unworthy and undeserving of any good thing. The man at the well approaches, seeing her damaged soul, her thirst for love, her need for protection and provision, her insecurities and pain, but decides to love her anyway. The man at the well speaks a different language from the man she left at home. Often my imagination takes me to her house, and I wonder if her husband is sitting under a tree with his friends, smoking a cigar, awaiting lunch from this woman who believes she is lucky to land husband number five. The man knows how she sees herself and takes advantage of her insecurity. Or perhaps he is a good husband, provider, protector and lover who makes her feel like a million dollars, but because she lacks self-love, she is still empty. But Jesus sees her and loves her in the state He finds her. She can now begin resting in his bosom. She has opened her heart to true love—a love that heals and builds, a love that the men she had been through could not provide. He saw nothing but beauty, and after all He created her to His best architectural design. The Potter was talking to the pot He had been molding through five husbands. He wanted perfection from this vessel and was determined to put it back in the fire to make it more attractive, capable of containing water and food that could be consumed. The Lord was depositing the word into this woman. She must have ended up on her knees many times pleading for help. **Secretly she must have known she was fighting from a place of victory and not a victor**No wonder she kept trying. She desired to be in a relationship and quitting was not an option. No wonder Christ showed up at the well to meet her. She was to use this tenacity to spread the word God had planted in her over the years of her failed relationships.

Like the woman at the well, many men and women go through tough life experiences. It is apparent that trials and temptations have no discrimination at all. They knock on every door, regardless of faith, gender, culture or even financial status. In talking to women in the church community, it is a shame that four out of five have experienced relational rejection from a man which affected the way they view life today. Many of them have struggled with these experiences and even carried them to new relationships. Many marriages are failing because we have failed to meet Jesus at the metaphorical well of our own lives. We have not allowed Christ to heal us completely and to have Him use us to grow His kingdom. We have not identified our purpose on earth and continue to live like the children of Israel who had God in their midst and did not acknowledge Him, spending 40 years in the wilderness. We have not learned to see blessings in these wilderness experiences.

As I reflect on many great women and men of God, I realize that none became warriors for Christ without opposition. Testimonies are told of unexplainable trials these men and women went through. It is a blessing when one gets to realize that they have a calling to serve God. When trials are overwhelming and a way out seems bleak, it can be difficult to be assured of God’s presence. When we lose loved ones unexpectedly, experience unemployment, or become estranged from a dear relationship, we consider ourselves frequent victims