At different seasons, an angel would come and stir the water. First one in was healed. Never happened to him. Wonder how many people he saw healed in 38 years? Did he ever think God was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with him. The lame man had tens of thousands of days to think. Another version says, "Do you want to be whole?" Yes. Yes. Yes. This invalid didn't even know who Jesus was when He posed the question. The Omniscient Jesus saw his heart and knew he wanted more. Healed in the Name of Jesus.
And so, what's the first thing the lame-no-more man does? Wondering what this 50 or 60-year-old man felt. No rehab hospital for this older gentleman. I love it! He goes to the Temple to thank God. And, there he finds Jesus who tells him Who He is and says, "Go and sin no more."
Is my first response to turn to God in thanks for all that He does and when He does show up? And am I willing to wait 38 years and not lose hope, an invalid, by the side of a healing pool, waiting on God to act in my behalf? Am I waiting on God or waiting on man to act?
Isaiah 64:4 "God acts in behalf of those Who Wait for Him."
Britt had dinner last night with his UT fraternity brother, Patrick. Britt went to take his Architecture Final...Patrick went to take his Aerospace Engineering Final. 7-10pm. Patrick left for home, East Texas, after the final. Never made it. He passed away in an automobile accident. Please pray for his family who was expecting their boy home today. Pray for his friends who loved him. Britt is at church tonight as I write. Believing our Good God will show up for my boy through this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI am praying for Patrick's family and for Britt. Gods ways are so mysterious. We don't comprehend, just hold on with all our might
ReplyDeletePraying for Patrick's family and for Britt.
ReplyDeleteAs to today's reading....I find myself waiting on God for several different ways to show up and make Himself known to me. I am doing my best, with His help, to praise Him for the circumstances and to look to Him for the answers and not to myself or any other person. He is my only Hope, He is the One with all of the answers. How I pray that I will praise Him for this waiting time and when He does show Himself, may I fall on my face and cry tears of joy and gratitude. It truly is all about an attitude of gratitude and seeing Him in everything.
Two of my children lost best friends in car accidents in college. It was the hardest thing to go to those funerals because these kids were like a brother and a sister (and another one of our children to Mike and me.) I'm so sorry for Patrick's family and especially for Britt as he tries to make sense of all of this. I'm joining you in prayer for God to comfort and heal you all, as you say, "for our good God to show up" for Britt and each of you.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a strange question, Do you want to be made well? Jesus must have sensed the man had no hope within or truly had some way come to draw something from his helpless condition. Whatever his heart, Jesus knew. He asks us, too, to have hope, to seek Him not only for our healing but so that "nothing worse will happen" There are things far worse than being an invalid for 38 years. "Sin no more" Jesus warns, "so that nothing worse will become of you." We can and should pray for healing and our immediate needs right now, but our greater need is for eternal salvation.
Pray with me for the lost today to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
Bev, this sad news makes me hurt for all those who loved Patrick. May the Comforter comfort and the Saviour save those who need the Living Water. And may the Father welcome Patrick into His loving arms.
ReplyDelete"1 After this there was a feast of the Jews,"
ReplyDeleteChrist comes back to Jerusalem for this feast.
And, somehow, He winds up at the place of the healing waters.
The pool has failed this impotent man...he is hopeless while others come to feast.
Christ has either "happened" to walk by this pool, or He has purposely come to this pool.
To me, He never did anything without purpose. He asks the question and gets right to the point. I've known some people who didn't want to be well. They preferred living in bitterness. They preferred living in hopelessness. They preferred the anger they could stew in, rather than the admittance that they needed a Saviour to heal them.
I love this story. I love that Jesus is here instead of at the feast. I love that He asks the impotent man the question that He asked. I love how He healed him on the Sabbath, knowing what it would cost Him.
He only did what He saw the Father do. I don't understand that, but I believe it in my spirit.
Today, I went to a local store and bought donations of towels, sheets, and a puppy bed to be delivered to the tornado victims in Georgia and Alabama. Our local high schools are delivering the donations in their band semi-trucks. They'll come rolling into those places of desolation with gifts from strangers...and most of us will be sharing because we do what we see our heavenly Father do.
He sent Jesus to heal just that one man sitting by the pool that day. He sees. He knows. He acts.
Bev, my heart aches for Britt and all of Patrick's friends and family. I can only imagine the loss.
ReplyDeleteMy comfort is knowing even in this traumatic and terrible pain God is faithful and He shows up and I must look for HIM because He is definitely in control and knows best.
As I read that last paragraph I wrote, that is difficult for me to post because the pain hurts in such deep places.
LORD you are the great Healer of all the pain and hurts that each of us experience on this earth. May Patrick's family, Britt and all those who have been affected by Patrick's life learn more about the LORD Jesus and HIS power to heal through the pain in this world today.
This is a Song I must Sing a prayer for Patrick's family, Britt, Bev and all those affected by this tremendous loss. I sing for the Balm in Gilead to heal us all today. In Jesus Holy Name, Amen.
Sylvia
Sylvia, I remember one of the lowest points in my life. I remember being on a treadmill where i came to exercise every day and cry just about every day too. I remember one Saturday morning at 11:45 am, it was as though the Balm of Gideon broke all over me, falling from heaven, I can't explain it, i just remember that day 6 years ago like it was yesterday...and a peace that passes understanding fell on me. So grateful to God for those moments where it seems as though we touch the face of God. All that while, God was deepening my strength in Him. Thanks for prompting my memory!
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