A Spectacle Of Glory #183

Read: John 5:1-8

The pool at Bethesda was a place where people waited—and waited! People with diseases and disabilities would crawl, hobble, or be carried there every day, hoping to be healed in the waters. One paralyzed man had been lying there for thirty-eight years. Think of it! That would be like lying by the pool from 1978 to 2016. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, he responded, “Sir . . . I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” His longing was fixed on a particular answer—someone who would carry him to the water. But the one He really needed was standing right in front of him—Jesus the Healer. It’s a reminder: When things look especially hopeless, remember who stands between you and your need—the very One who will make you whole.

Lord, I know I have looked right past You many times in my life, hoping and longing for specific solutions to my problems. Sometimes I imagine some expert will have all the answers for me. But You have been with me all along. With the psalmist, I say, “But now, LORD, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”^a