Jesus didn’t ask the man beside the pool of Bethesda, “Do you need to get well?” But, “Do you want to get well?” There was no preliminary introduction or social niceties or even casual conversation, just a Stranger asking a question that would seem to have had a very obvious answer. Surely, without question, anyone who was a paralytic would want to be able to walk.
But Jesus knew that it’s easy for physical weakness and mental depression and a lifetime of hopelessness to rob a man of his willingness to do anything about it. It would be less demanding in many ways for the man to be carried about by others. His paralysis absolved him from taking responsibility in life.
Jesus knows one of the greatest barriers to our faith is often our unwillingness to be made whole-our unwillingness to live without excuse for our spiritual smallness and immaturity. And so the question He asked was very relevant then and still is today: “Do you want to get well?”
They shall put My name on the
children of Israel, and I will bless them.
O Lord our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name. § We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, those who were never called by Your name.
All peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. § The Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.
O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name. § Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, for Your name’s sake! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” § The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Num. 6:27; Isa. 26:13; 63:19; Deut. 28:10;
1 Sam. 12:22; Dan. 9:19; Ps. 79:9–10; Prov. 18:10
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament shows His handiwork.
Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. § He did not leave Himself without witness. § Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. § Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20; Acts 14:17;
Ps. 19:2–3; 8:3–4; 1 Cor. 15:41–42; Dan. 12:3
We can only imagine the concentrated thoughts that occupied the divine Mind and the gentle, skillful touch of the divine Hand that first shaped man from the dust. Where did the Creator begin? Did He start with a skeletal frame? Did He then cover it with an outside layer of skin, which at no place is thicker than three-sixteenths of an inch, is packed with nerve endings to enable man to feel the outside world, and is virtually waterproof? Into the skin stretched over the frame did He next place the heart that pumps seventy-two times a minute, forty million times a year? When did He hang the lungs in their sealed compartments so that the rivers of blood necessary for life can deposit the carbon dioxide and pick up oxygen to be carried to every single one of the more than twenty-six trillion cells in the body? When did He place the brain inside the bony skull and program it to send messages that travel faster than three hundred miles an hour along the nervous system to the entire body? Truly, we are fearfully and wonderfully and lovingly and personally created by an awe-inspiring, loving Creator!
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time.
Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look—we all are Your people! § You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth. § It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
Affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
1 Peter 5:6; Prov. 16:5; Isa. 64:8–9; Jer. 31:18–19; Lam. 3:27; Job 5:6–7
Has God indeed said . . . ?
When the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God …” He answered and said, “It is written … It is written … It is written … ” Then the devil left Him.
“I cannot return with you. For I have been told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there … ’” He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He was lying to him.) So he went back with him … The man of God … was disobedient to the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord. § If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. § Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Gen. 3:1; Matt. 4:3–4, 7, 10–11;
1 Kings 13:16–19, 26; Gal. 1:8; Ps. 119:11
Have you erected a shield around your heart? A shield . . . of pride or doubt
or shame
or anger?
Did you think that if you opened your heart and let God see inside, that He would blame you for what you have or haven’t done? Or rebuke you for your lack of faith?
You and I can be so foolish! Why do we think we can hide our feelings from God? Why would we want to hide our feelings from God? Would you open up your heart and show it to Him? Let Him see exactly how you feel and what you think. Don’t hide it or repress it or cover it up or pretend it’s not there. Just pour it all out to Him, and then wait expectantly for His response.
