What to read this week:
- Chapter 1 of God is Able
- John 5:1-14
If you have been a part of previous online Bible studies, be warned… this one is going to be a little bit different!! Books that we have used in the past had Bible Studies written into them, but this one does not. So, hang in there with me and I promise that we will relate everything back to the chapter in the book by the end of this post!!
This week, let’s look at the story of the man who was healed at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. If you haven’t read the scripture text yet, take a few minutes and do that before you read on here!!
This story took place during the time of a Jewish Feast. During these times of Jewish feasts the location that the feast was held in would have been very crowded. Some Jewish Feasts required that all Jewish males attend, so you can imagine how many people were staying in Jerusalem during this time.
The man’s healing took place at Bethesda which means "Place of Outpouring" or "House of Grace". The pool of Bethesda was a place where sick people would gather and wait. There was a belief that when the water started moving that the first person into the pool would be healed.
There was a man who was sick and he had been that way for 38 years. Now, we don’t know exactly what was wrong with him. We do know that he couldn’t walk on his own, so we know he had a physical problem, but the scripture just uses the word “infirmity” when it tells us about the man.
Now, the scriptures tell us in verse 13 that this man did not know who Jesus was. So, when Jesus walked by him and stopped to talk to him, the man had no idea that he was talking to Jesus. He did not see Jesus walking and called out to Him to get His attention, knowing that He could heal him.
The man was minding his own business, oblivious to the fact that his miracle was walking by. Jesus walked up to him and asked him,
"Do you want to be healed"?
Let me take just a brief pause here in the story to say this. Jesus was God in the flesh. When He asked someone a question, it wasn’t because He didn’t know the answer! It wasn’t because He was gathering needed information. It was because the person He asked the question to needed to answer the question. Sometimes as we read through scripture,
WE need to answer the questions that Jesus asked too!!
Ok, back to the story. Think for a minute about what your response would be if you were this man. I think I would have said, “YES!!!” But that isn’t what the man said. Instead of answering Jesus with a yes or no, he began to tell Jesus all the reasons (excuses) why he couldn’t get into the pool to receive his healing.
He threw a pity party for himself!! He blamed the fact that there was no one to help him into the pool for why he had not been healed in 38 years. What he was saying was that the reason he wasn’t healed was not his fault. He pointed a finger at someone else.
He also says that while he is trying to get into the pool, someone always gets in before he can. What he was really saying was, “This healing pool isn’t going to work for me. It works for other people, but it will never work for me because I will never be able to get in first.”
Let’s start looking at our own situations, at our own “its”. Are we spending our time throwing ourselves a pity party? Are we pointing our finger at someone else? Listen; even if your problems in life are because of what someone else has done to you, you are the only one who can determine the destiny of your life. No matter what anyone else has done to you, you get to choose how you live your life.
Now, before you think that I am being all preachy here, if I had the liberty to tell my greatest “God is Able and He did it for me” testimony of my own life, you would understand that I am saying this out of experience, not out of pointing a finger at you! My greatest God is Able story involves someone else who hasn’t given me the permission to share it yet, so I just need you to trust me here for now!! Sometimes the greatest hurts in our lives come from what other people have done to us, but that doesn’t determine what we choose to do in return.
Are we saying that it just won’t work for us?
“God, I know that you can heal marriages, but just not mine”.
“God, I know that you can heal people from cancer, but not me”.
“God, I know that you can provide for the financial situations of others, oh, and thank you by the way for providing for that need that I prayed about for my friend, but… you can’t do it for me”.
Both of these excuses are lies of the enemy. Friends, let’s stand against these lies. Stop believing them and stop repeating them (even to yourself)!!
Jesus response to what he said was, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk”. Jesus didn’t say, “ok, your healed now”. He said, rise, take up your bed, and walk. What would have happened if the man had not gotten up? He had been sitting there for 38 years! He had gotten comfortable on his bed. He was used to sitting there. It would have been easy for him to continue making excuses. It would have been easy for him to question Jesus. Remember, he didn’t know who Jesus was!!
But, scripture says, “immediately” he was made well, took up his bed, and walked. He had to do something though. He had to get up!! He had to get out of his comfort zone (his bed) and put one foot in front of the other and walk.
I feel like we need to put ourselves and our “its” in this mans "shoes" for a few minutes...
- We know that his "IT" was that he was in need of physical healing.
- We know that he believed enough in the promise of healing to be hanging out at the pool of Bethesda.
- We know that he had been waiting a long time for healing (38 years).
I wonder if some of our "ITS" have us in the same place?? I wonder if some of our “its” are such heavy burdens that they have crippled us? We have been waiting on answers, relief, healing, for a VERY LONG time. We know enough to know that God can restore, redeem, and make us completely whole. We are hanging out by the pool…
I can't guarantee that God won't make you wait a while to get an answer for your "IT". But here is where we have a benefit....
We know who Jesus is!! We know that he can step right into the middle of our circumstances and change them in an instant! We have the advantage of knowledge that the man didn't have.
What we do with that information is crucial!!! If we keep that information sitting with us waiting around for a sign that our time has come to be whole (the stirring of the water) we may be left waiting.
But what would happen if we embraced what we know? What will happen if we WALK in victory now even if our victory hasn't come yet?
My very favorite point that Priscilla made in chapter one, was that we don't have to wait for a new season of life to live the abundant life. We can live the abundant life that God promised us right in the middle of our current circumstances. Because the abundant life isn't a life without trials and problems, it is a life with Jesus right in the middle of our trials and problems.
Why would this man instantly get up and walk when he didn't even know who Jesus was??
Could it be that encountering Christ, face to face, right where we are at (on the side of the pool, not in the pool) gives us everything we need to walk in victory? Whether our "it" is taken care of today or not, we can live the abundant life in the middle of our situations if we invite God into the mix and truly believe that our time is now. That He can do it now! Not tomorrow or in the next season of life, but our God is Able to do it NOW!
Not only is He able to do it now, He wants to do it!! Here is this man who didn’t even know who Jesus was, but in the midst of masses of people flooding the city for the feast, Jesus still found this man. This man would have NEVER asked Jesus to heal him, because he didn’t know that Jesus could heal him. How much more will Jesus heal us, restore us, work in the midst of our situations, when we know that He can and we know to ask??!!
Discussion Starters:
- What part of this chapter in the book or in the story in John chapter 5 jumped off the page at you this week?
- In light of your “it”, what excuses have you been making? What lies of the enemy have you been believing? How can you turn those lies around? What does the Word say about it?
- Sometimes I think God is ready to move on our behalf, but we may be hindering it. Jesus’ command to “rise, take up your bed, and walk” shows us that we have to actually do something too!! What do you think about this? What do you think keeps you (or just people in general) “stuck”?
- In light of your “it”, Do you want to be healed?? You can just answer this question to yourself if you would like, but feel free to share your answers if you would like to also.
