Does This Hit Home For You?

Pastor Brian's sermon last night (we have church on Saturday nights)...oh my goodness...it was so incredibly good! I had share some of the "most moving" highlights! He began a series 5 weeks ago looking at Jesus through the eyes of John, the disciple Jesus loved. So, this week, we were on John 5. Please take the time to read the entire chapter; as for the sake of space, I am only going to summarize not only the passage, Brian's comments on and my impressions.

Some background, John 5 is the healing of the man who was sitting by the pool Bethesda. He had an ailment for 38 years and had been attempting to get into the pool when the angel came down to move the waters. (Remember, an angel would come down, move the waters and the first person in the water would be healed.)

Brian has such a phenomenal way of making the Bible come to life! He is truly a gifted teacher! He suggested we consider this man's response to Jesus when he asked the man if he wanted to be healed. Instead of saying "YES! I want to be healed", he said, "I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me" (John 5:7). Brian's point is: we get stuck looking only at one solution to our problem. For this man, the problem was not being able to get into the waters...while the solution to the ailment was talking to him! Sometimes God wants us to consider that he wants to solve our problem, but if we are only praying and looking for one specific solution, we are going to miss the healing/answer/ultimate solution. So, what is your problem you are seeking a solution to? Are you asking God to show you His solution or are you praying for a specific solution and not seeing it being answered that way?

I immediately thought of so many people I know who are struggling with infertility. They see the ONLY solution to building a family as a biological one. However, there is adoption which is the way God is growing our family. And I, personally, would not have it any other way! I also thought of a family member who is dead set on obtaining a job with a specific organization. He continues to set his entire life (and his family's lives) on hold by not seeking other employment as he waits for THIS job. I have always wondered all this time he is so focused on one specific thing, what is he missing somewhere else? I know for us, DH did not want to move to Texas. He prefered Chicago. But God wanted us in Texas, and if we had not been open to what God wanted...we would have missed SO MANY blessings!

Do you want to be free of want? Well, the solution is to focus on Jesus. This man was praying for someone to put him into the pool, when if he had even been paying a little bit attention, he would have seen that Jesus--the great healer--was standing in front of him! He almost missed it when Jesus said "get up; pick up your bed and walk" (vs. 8). He was so focused on the only solution--getting into the pool--he was not listening to the talk about temple of who Jesus was. I wonder, how many others around the pool did Jesus heal? How many others then began pursuing their healing from him rather than just the pool? I don't know. John does not talk about any of the others around the pool.

The last point...did you see the people who were focusing only on the fact that he was carrying his mat? They completely disregarded what could be a "bigger sin" of performing a healing on the Sabbath. Instead, they only focused on the man not carrying his mat. Again, we see individuals who are honed into one thing without realizing they should consider the fact that HE WAS HEALED! (Until, of course, the man told them it was Jesus who healed him.) And did you also notice the man did not even realize WHO had healed him until Jesus later found him in the temple? What's up with that? He did not even realize who Jesus was when he was talking to him. He was, again, so focused on the pool, he was not even paying attention to the man he was talking to. Maybe he was not even looking at Jesus, completely focused on not missing the moving of the water. Maybe it "about time" for the water to move...and he was not about to miss it because he was talking to "some man".

Boy does it make me think...is this me? What areas of my life am I narrow mindedly praying for a specific answer for a specific problem rather than allowing God to bring the answer another way? How about you?