It Was A Must
What looks like a derailment may actually be divine alignment. In this devotion, Dianna Hobbs explores how God uses detours, discomfort, and disruption to accomplish His sovereign purpose in your life.
What looks like a derailment may actually be divine alignment. God often uses detours, discomfort, and disruption to accomplish His sovereign purpose in our lives.
I was talking with a dear friend a few days ago about the health crises I’ve walked through over the years, reflecting on God’s goodness and how He spared my life.
Somewhere in the conversation, I said something I’ve said more times than I can count: “Based on doctors’ reports and circumstances, I’m not supposed to be here.”
She listened, then said, “You are supposed to be here because God purposed for you to be.”
That stayed with me. It was a quiet reminder that God’s sovereignty is always at work, even when we are not consciously aware of how He is moving.
Have you ever looked at the details of your life, weighed the facts, and drawn a conclusion that didn’t fully account for God’s rule over all of it?
That line of thinking followed me as I read a single line of Scripture: “Jesus had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4).
In this chapter, before John ever introduces the woman at the well or gives us any details about the encounter, he tells us something essential about the journey.
Jesus had to go through Samaria.
Had to.
The Greek word John uses to express this concept is ἔδει (edei). It signals divine necessity. Something that must happen because God has willed it.
Not because it is convenient. Not because it is comfortable. But because it is written into God’s redemptive plan.
This is God’s sovereignty on display, purposefully aligning every moment with His will, because nothing that happens ever slips outside His rule.
John uses this same word when Jesus says the Son of Man must be lifted up (John 3:14), and again when He says He must do the works of the One who sent Him (John 9:4).
Every time edei appears, it marks a moment that cannot be avoided because it has been ordained.
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And look at what this ordained path requires of Jesus.
He is tired. He is thirsty. He is traveling in the scorching heat of the day (John 4:6). This is not a leisurely walk. This is not a convenient assignment.
Just before this, the atmosphere around Him becomes tense. Religious leaders are watching Him. Controversy is increasing. Why? Because His influence is growing, and jealousy is surfacing (John 4:1–3). So Jesus leaves Judea.
From the outside, it looks like pressure forced a detour. In reality, God was orchestrating one.
What looks like retreat is actually redirection. What looks like interruption is intention. What looks like inconvenience is assignment.
And here is the word for us.
Even what you are walking through right now is not random. The exhausting season. The uncomfortable situation. The detour you never planned. It is a must.
God uses pressure to reposition. He uses disruption to redirect. What feels like a setback is the very path leading you into purpose.
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In our text today, when the Samaritan woman comes to the well at noon to draw water, she has no idea her life is about to change.
She does not arrive as a neutral figure. She carries history. She belongs to a people shaped by Israel’s fractured past, when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria and families were torn apart by exile (2 Kings 17:24).
Her ancestors were among those who stayed behind. They intermarried, rebuilt life where they were, and continued to worship the God of Israel. They honored the Torah and traced their lineage back to Jacob.
But over time, their faith practices became blended, and they worshiped at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem, which Jews believed God had chosen as the center of true worship (John 4:20). Because of this history, she is already viewed as suspect and dismissed.
And her personal life only deepens her isolation. Jesus reveals she has been married five times and is now living with a man who is not her husband.
No wonder she comes alone.
No wonder she comes at noon, with the sun beating down on her brow.
Not by preference, but by necessity.
The shadow of failed relationships and casual dalliances has followed her here, shaping when she comes, how she moves, and where she stands in her community. She stands at a well tied to promise, yet her own life tells her she does not fully belong anywhere.
And this is where Jesus meets her, breaking the silence first. “Give Me a drink,” he says. (John 4:7).
It is a simple yet loaded request, because it crosses every boundary. A Jewish man does not ask a Samaritan woman for water. Yet Jesus does.
John tells us she is shocked that He would even speak to her. “How is it that You, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” she asks (John 4:9).
The wall between them is real. Jews and Samaritans do not share meals, cups, or conversation. But Jesus presses past the barrier and goes straight to the heart.
He tells her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
That shifts everything.
By the conclusion of the exchange, Jesus quenches her spiritual thirst so completely that her natural thirst fades into the background. The thing she came for no longer matters because she has found something better.
That is why John includes a detail that speaks volumes. She leaves her water jar behind (John 4:28).
I love that!
That jar was the reason she came. It represented survival, routine, and daily need. Day after day, she carried it because she was thirsty, not just physically, but spiritually. Her life had been built around managing thirst.
But after encountering Jesus, she forgets it.
She runs back into the city empty-handed and full-hearted. The jar stays at the well, but the testimony goes with her.
Because Jesus detoured through Samaria, an entire town hears the Good News (John 4:39–42). She becomes a bridge He intentionally walked across, reaching a people many would never have thought to engage.
She came thirsty.
She leaves overflowing.
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Hear this clearly, friend.
God is not improvising with your life. Nothing you’ve walked through has caught Him off guard. Nothing has slipped through His fingers. Nothing has been wasted. When you belong to Him, even the hard things are handled with intention.
What looks like derailment is often alignment. That job that feels like a dead end. That separation that broke your heart.
That season where your motives were misunderstood. That conflict you did not start but could not avoid. That disruption you never prayed for.
That detour you would have skipped if you had the choice.
It was not comfortable.
It was not convenient.
But it was a must.
There are places in your story you had to go through, not because God delights in pain, but because purpose was waiting on the other side.
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If you have ever felt exhausted under the weight of an unexpected detour, let me remind you that nothing in your life is random.
To confirm this, I’m stirring Psalm 37:23 (NLT) as the sweetener in your cup of inspiration, which says: “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, be encouraged. Your steps have been ordered.
I know some things disrupt your plans.
Some things stretch your faith.
Some things break your heart.
But some things are not optional.
They are ordained.
And as you surrender to God’s will, you will reach the place He has already prepared for you. Not only that. You will also receive unexpected blessings you never imagined.
Now, let’s pray.
God, I thank You for Your sovereignty. Thank You for meeting me in uncomfortable places and using these experiences for Your divine purposes.
Even when I do not understand what You are doing, help me trust that everything is working for my good and for Your glory.
Help me rest in the truth that if it had to happen, You allowed it. And because You allowed it, You will use it to fulfill Your perfect will.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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