Kehinde A. Bolutife.
“The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that sadist thou truly” John 4:17-18.
The gospel according to John chapter four presents us with the encounter of Jesus with the woman of Samaria as Christ was passing through Samaria unto Galilee. The life of this woman reveals the expected progressive revelation any person should have in his or her walk with Jesus. The full text of this story reveals that the woman progressively discovered Jesus first as the Giver of living water, then as a Prophet; and finally as the Christ. And for every discovery she made, she was careful enough to maximize it to her fullest advantage. Initially Jesus had “…said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
I see Jesus there presenting Himself to this woman as He Who answers prayers if only she would ask. What a Friend we have in Jesus! The Bible says He is such that is touched by the feelings of our infirmities. He wants to hear us ASK, SEEK & KNOCK. He said we should come boldly to the throne of Grace to obtain mercy and receive grace to help in times of need. He said by prayer and supplication, we should let our prayers be made known unto God. The scriptures severally present God as One Who answers prayer! “If thou knewest the gift of God…thou wouldest have asked and he would have given thee”
There are several provisions in the Kingdom. There are provisions of the Blood, the word of God, faith, grace and so on…and there is also the provision of prayer! This is the only provision that grants us access to all others. God has given unto us, ALL that pertains to life and godliness in Christ Jesus. But we can only access them THROUGH PRAYER. Prayer is the ONLY provision thru which we can receive God’s blessings and invite His interventions into our life’s situations. How much we are able to explore the avenue of prayer determines how much spiritual and material blessings we are able to withdraw from our heavenly account.
The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous person avails much! If there is a man or woman who will pray; there is a God that answers prayers! Do we really know Christ as He who answers prayer? How much of prayer do we engage in? Men, ought always to pray and not to faint. Pray without season. Ye receive not because ye asked not. Pray until your Joy is full. Praying with all prayers and supplication…these and many more promises show Christ as God who answers prayers. And if we know Him to be so, why do little or no prayer! God wants us to ask.
What a Friend we have in Jesus; all our sins and griefs to bear; what a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear; all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.
May the Lord grant us a fresh revelation of the God who answers prayers so we can ask and receive the impossible in prayer!
When the woman eventually discovered Jesus as the Giver, “The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not…” And while anyone would have expected Christ to go ahead and answer her request with immediate alacrity, Jesus said something shocking which apparently seemed to be irrelevant but very crucial. “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband and come hither.” Any correlation, you may ask? Yes, there is. Jesus was pointing her attention to one of the fundamental truth about marriage.
This is what the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Apostle Peter alludes to in first Peter chapter 3 verse 7. “You husbands must be careful of your wives, being thoughtful of their needs and honoring them as the weaker sex. Remember that you and your wife are partners in receiving God’s blessings, and if you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not get ready answers” TLB. I see Jesus telling the woman, “Woman, as much as I love to grant your prayer request for the living water, WE-the Godhead recognizes that you are married and therefore supposed to have a co-signatory to access this divine blessing as a married woman. Therefore, go and call your husband.”
What a sorry situation for this woman! At the point of accessing life’s greatest blessing that requires the signatory support of a husband, she had none to present! Not that she was not married or staying with a “husband” but she just didn’t have a husband. What a paradox of life. And Jesus agreed with her words which she said, “I have no husband.”
This is the sorry and pitiable situation of many married women today: they are lawfully married and living with men as husbands but their experience can best be described like the situation of this Samaritan woman, who though married, said, “I have no husband.” Women in this category move from pillar to pole; valley to mountain; trying to proffer solutions to their personal and family problems through prayers. But what the Heaven is saying to them is “Go, call thy husband, and come hither to withdraw from the joint account created for you by default the moment you got married.” “Two are better than one; for they have a far better reward for their labours.”
There are three categories of women who can be described as not having husband. The first category are those women living with unavailable and irresponsible husbands. They are married but their husbands are not just there. Like when Adam was not “available” when the Serpent launched his brutal and merciless attack on Eve in the Garden of Eden; God would later called out to him and asked, “Adam, where art thou?” Manoah also was absent when the Angel visited his wife and the angel had to be asking the wife of Manoah “Where is your husband?” There are many women today over whom the heaven is asking “Where is your husband?” There are many wives today whose heads are not “covered” by any husband in the divine organogram. The Scripture says, “The Head of Christ is God; the Head of the man is Christ and the head of every woman is the man (her husband).”
Unavailable, irresponsible husbands who have failed in providing the necessary spiritual, moral and financial supports for their wives render such wives no-husband-wives. Women and wives in this category struggle all alone by themselves to bear the burden that is meant to be borne by two people; and having no “cover” over their heads, are exposed to diverse humiliating experiences. Any woman with irresponsible man is a woman with no husbands. To such women going through this kind of experience, the best solution is to passionately present such husbands in prayer to God who has power to change life and situations. He is the Maker of both men and women; and only Him has the solution to every man’s problem. God can transform a man into the likeness of His Image. Make praying for your husband a top priority. In fact, the best any woman can offer her husband is prayer. Don’t give up, with God all things are possible.
Another category of married women with no husbands are women living in adultery. Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married man and someone other than his wife or between a married woman and someone other than her husband. The Samaritan woman had lived with five different men in adulterous relationships. Women who abandoned their matrimony to go and married other men for no justifiable reason live in adultery and t
herefore have no husband as such marriages are invalid before God. Jesus said, “…and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Sadly, there are many adulterous women today who have left their rightful husbands and married to another men just for mere reasons of money and pleasures. Satan is ferociously attacking the family system on a global scale as rates of adultery keep increasing by leaps and bounds. This is s strategy of the devil to weaken and destroy the family system and the world at large as he knows well that any incidence in the home front is a precedence in the world. Omission in the family becomes an omission in the world at large. It was family that was first attacked before the whole world now lies in wickedness. A second, third, fourth or fifth wife in the house of a man is a woman with no husband! A married adulterous woman is a woman with no husband. Polygamy and any marital abomination present with men today is never the original of God. “In the beginning, it was not so.” One man, one woman till death do them part is the original and authentic plan of God for marriage. Polyandry, the practice of having more than one husband at a time is a development from the pit of hell to destroy the sanctity and sanity of the marriage system. May the God of creation restore order to the family system globally.
The third category of “I have no husband” are ladies who are “too good” to be husbanded. These category of wives are the proud species of wives. They are too “blessed” to be submissive. They just can’t submit to the authority of any man probably because of their age, wealth, position in the place of work, political appointments, higher salary than the husband, parental heritage, spiritual gifts and ministerial achievements…they are just “too good” to be under a man’s authority at home. They are wives after the order of Vashti who disobeyed her head but not Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. “That kind of deep beauty was seen in the saintly women of old, who trusted God and fitted in with their husbands’ plans. Sarah, for instance, obeyed her husband Abraham, honoring him as head of the house. And if you do the same, you will be following in her steps like good daughters and doing what is right; then you will not need to fear [offending your husbands]” (1 Peter 3:5-6 TLB). Wives who are too good to be husbanded are wives with no husband. Did I called them too good? They are no good at all! They are like rottenness in the bone. Unfortunately enough, they litter our churches all over! They are angels in the church but angry wolves at home; who give no respect and honour to their husbands. If you are such, may the Lord transform your life for good.
The Samaritan woman confessed “I have no husband. The cause of her moving from man to man is not revealed to us, but though she was under a man as husband, yet Jesus saw her as having not her head “covered”. Do you even know that the issue of head covering in the bible is particularly addressed to married women as a symbol of being under the authority of their husbands? Go read the passage again. But alas! There are many heads covered with the thickest turban and most expensive hats who are all the same uncovered! Hope you are not a married woman who has no husband. And hope you are not a single lady that is too good to have a husband. Think on this thing, and the Lord give you understanding.
