Stirred by Living Water

In John 5, Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda and spoke to a man who had suffered a debilitating illness for 38 years.  For a long time he had lounged by the pool and waited for the moving of the water.  John explains that occasionally an angel stirred the water and the first who entered the water was cured of any illness they had.  After Jesus asked the man directly if he wanted to be well, he did not answer the question as John 5:7 relates:  "The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

This focus of the sick man was fixed on the moving of the water when the Son of God came to him with miraculous power to heal and save.  He was desperate for healing and was overwhelmed by his inability to do anything to help himself.  In his mind deliverance from his illness could come by only one way, and confined the manner God could work to his own limited way of thinking.  Thankfully God cannot be squeezed into a box of our expectations, and despite this man's lack of faith God's miraculous power was in no way confined.  The man complained he had no man to help him because he had no idea who Jesus was.

John 5:8-9 reads, "Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." ⁹ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath."  The man was divinely enabled to do what he could not do, and healing did not come in the way he previously imagined.  This provides wisdom and insight for us when we are so focused on what we want and the way God must move to accomplish it.  The God who provides Living Water has come to us, and we ought to fix our eyes on Him rather than hoping for a miracle we imagine is the one way God could operate for our benefit.  We who have been redeemed and made to stand by God's grace should not be sedentary and languishing, doing the equivalent of waiting "for the moving of the water," when the Holy Spirit moves continually.

The sick man walked away well without the moving of the water because of the grace, compassion and power of Jesus Christ to do what men cannot.  The sick man looked to men, and the wise look to Jesus in expectant faith, knowing He is almighty and good.  Jesus said in Revelation 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."  Let us rejoice and praise our Saviour who took our sicknesses upon Himself on Calvary, is able to keep us from stumbling and will present us faultless before the the Father with exceeding joy.  May we be stirred by the Holy Spirit to believe, honour and obey Him faithfully.