I Can’t vs I Won’t: Looking at the Samaritan Woman

My dad was quite the handyman. In my mind there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. I often had projects that I wanted him to do. He would either quickly and gladly do It for me, or simply tell me it couldn’t be done. In other words, it was a bigger project than he wanted to take on. It was a family joke that when dad said it couldn’t be done, it just meant he didn’t want to do it.

I think about phrases that I catch myself saying such as, “I can’t get up early and workout.” That isn’t true. I can get up early; I just don’t. “I can’t eat just a few chips.” Again, not true. I have the ability to put the bag away and stop. I just don’t. I’m sure you have some of these statements in your life as well.

I want to take these statements and talk about the “Woman at the Well” in John 4. This is a story most are familiar with. The disciples had gone into town to get food, and Jesus stopped at a well. While he was there, a Samaritan woman come to the well. Short version of the story, Jesus not only told her all about her life, but offered her Living Water. She met Jesus there and knew he was the Messiah.

What I want to look at is what she did next. She could have kept that experience to herself, but she didn’t. Verse 28-30, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to town and said to the people, ‘Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”

We can’t know the thoughts of the Samaritan Woman, only her actions. But thinking about what thoughts she might have experienced, they include thoughts with the word cannot. I cannot tell anyone about this because no one will believe me. I cannot tell anyone because of all that has happened in my past. I cannot tell anyone, because I might look foolish. I could list many more thoughts that might have crossed her mind based on my personal experience. Probably the thought I have believed the most is, “I cannot tell anyone because I don’t want to offend them.” These are not statements of can’t. They are statements of won’t. Once we have been with Jesus, we should naturally want to tell people. Saying that we can’t isn’t true. We are choosing not to.

Whatever feelings were had by the Samaritan Woman, she put them aside and ran into town to tell everyone. The evidence of her actions is found in verse 39. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” Because she told others about her experience with Jesus, many came to know him.

What is God asking you to do? When you spend time in the word and in prayer, do you have notions or ideas of actions you should take but instead of taking moving forward, you say, “I can’t do that?”

Often when I have concerns, they aren’t necessarily that I don’t want to do something, but Satan gets in my head and tells me that I can’t. I hear, “You can’t write.” I hear, “You don’t know the Bible well enough to write about it. You will make a theological mistake.” These thoughts cause me to think that I can’t, so it becomes I won’t.

 Let’s work on this together. If the Samaritan Woman can run into town and tell everyone about the man she just met, we can do what God is asking us to do.