​

Ask God: God meets each of us where we are. Just as He met the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda, He will meet you.

​

Good Evening Reader,

I hope you have had a good week. Some require a lot of guidance from the Holy Spirit. It has been that kind of week for me. But God is faithful and always meets me and strengthens me. Praise God.

May you be filled with Joy this day. This is the day the Lord has made!

All Glory to God.

Elvin

Jesus Meets Your Needs Where You Are

John tells a remarkable story about Jesus seeking out the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda. The man had been paralyzed for 38 years and did not know Jesus. The man hoped to be healed by getting into the pool when the angel stirred the water.

Jesus approached the man and asked, "Do you want to be made well?" This seems like a strange question, but is it a valid question? The man did not answer the question directly but explained to Jesus that he had no one to help him get in the water.

Jesus then said to him, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." The man immediately was healed, took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:1-9)

This event demonstrates Jesus' willingness to meet people where they are.

Most of us could probably look back on our past and recall unexplained events that have happened in our lives. You may have wondered why they happened and, more specifically, why they happened at that time and place?

I am not big on coincidences. Is it a coincidence that you are on this planet at this time and place? I believe God has a plan and you and I are part of His plan. Ephesians 1:11 says, "Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan" (Ephesians 1:11, NLT).

Like the Man at Bethesda, we often wait and hope for something to fix our lives—a change in circumstances, a better opportunity, or even a lucky break. But there is a better way. We can seek Jesus for real healing—both physical and spiritual.

Jesus At the Pool of Bethesda

Jesus was in Jerusalem to attend an unnamed Jewish festival. He went to the pool of Bethesda apparently without His disciples. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, where crowds of sick people came to be healed when an angel of the Lord came and stirred the waters. The first person to step into the water after it was stirred was believed to be miraculously healed.

John tells us the man had been sick for thirty-eight years. His hope to be made well was to be the first in the water after the angel stirred the water.

John 5:6-9 says, " When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?"

"I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me."

Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!"

Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!"

Generally, Jesus healed people who expressed faith in Him. In this case, the man did not know Jesus and did not express faith. In fact, the man did not have faith to get into the stirred water because he had no one to help him get to the water.

Yet, Jesus did not talk to him about his faith or about others Jesus had previously healed. There was no explanation by Jesus. Jesus simply asked, "Would you like to get well?" Then Jesus instructed the disabled man to pick up his mat and walk.

Jesus met the man where he was. He was paralyzed and could not even get into the water on his own. The man recognized his need and his dependence on the help of others. He also showed obedience when Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk, for the man picked up his mat and walked. God had a purpose for the man. As we will see, the man would spread the Gospel.

The Healed Man Carrying His Mat Upset the Pharisees

One of the Jewish leaders saw the healed man carrying his mat and reprimanded him for breaking the laws about working on the Sabbath. "You can't work on the Sabbath! The law doesn't allow you to carry that sleeping mat."

What did the Jewish leader get right, and what did he get wrong? First, the Law of Moses did not prohibit being healed on the Sabbath or even carrying a sleeping mat. The Torah says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work" (Exodus 20:8–10, ESV).

Later, the Pharisees and teachers added detailed regulations to define what they determined "work" to mean. The carrying of personal items was prohibited.

The Law of Moses does not prohibit healing on the Sabbath. The teachers added their interpretations to the law for medical treatment only if a person's life was in danger. If it was not life-threatening, treatment was postponed until the Sabbath.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:12 that doing good on the Sabbath is lawful. The healing of a paralyzed man was certainly doing good. The Pharisees concentrated on the letter of the law and missed the spirit of the law.

This scene also offers a strong warning to all of us. We can miss what matters to God when we focus only on rules and appearances. Jesus brings life, freedom, and healing, but those bound by tradition and hardened hearts cannot see it.

This story is also a beautiful picture of grace. The man did not earn it; he didn't even know who Jesus was when Jesus approached him. Jesus looked out at all the crippled people around the pool and chose him to be healed. Jesus met the man where he was and in his condition.

The man was physically Healed but Still Needed Spiritual Healing.

Jesus was still concerned about the man's spiritual condition and sought him.

Why did Jesus wait to talk to the man later about his spiritual condition? Probably, Jesus felt the sick man could not have handled all he had to say and waited to speak with him in the Temple. A physical and spiritual lesson would have been information overload for the man. Remember, Jesus often said that his disciples did not comprehend His spiritual message. He would later explain it again.

The Jewish leaders asked the man who had healed him and told him to "pick up your mat and walk." He did not know and was unable to say to them. Later, Jesus found the man in the Temple and spoke to him about sinning.

"The Man didn't know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, "Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you" (Verses 13 and 14).

This poor man was now being approached by the Jewish teachers and Jesus. But Jesus was concerned about his soul. He wanted him to understand the relationship between the physical and the spiritual.

God Meets Us Where We Are

The paralyzed man did not seek out Jesus. He did not know who he was. But Jesus knew who the man was.

Jesus didn't just want the man to walk but to walk in righteousness. True healing is complete when it leads to a changed life. Salvation not only frees us from suffering but frees us from the bondage of sin. Jesus' death on the cross freed us from the power of sin over us.

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In warning the man about sinning, Jesus cautioned him against falling back into bad habits, especially hanging around the same bad influences and making bad decisions. He was to move on to life in the light. His freedom wasn't given that he could return to the old enslaved life, but that he could live a new, better life.

Paul cautioned the Galatians to "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

Elvin

The Pool of Bethesda Outside the Walls of Jerusalem

Ask God For Help

Christian faith

Reader,

Hosea said his people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Knowledge give believers and non-believers a choice. When a person does not know, they cannot choose.

Feel free to forward this lesson to your friends and family.

Grow in the knowledge of God.

Elvin

Send your comments to elvin.aycock@AskGodForHelp.net and let me know what you think of the lessons.

Go to: www.AskGodForHelp.net

To See More Living Life Lessons

​

​