Acknowledge Your Limitations - The Man At The Pool Of Bethesda

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.”

John 5:6-7

In the 1973 action thriller Magnum Force, San Francisco Police Lieutenant Briggs boasts to detective Harry Callahan that he has been on the force for a long time without ever having to take his gun out of its holster. Without a moment’s hesitation, “Dirty Harry” fires back, “Well, you’re a good man, Lieutenant, and a good man always knows his limitations.”

That’s a pretty good observation.

An unnamed sick man who met Jesus one day knew his limitations. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, he responded, “I can’t.”

Something about the words “I can’t” offends the sensibilities of most Christians. Haven’t we been taught that we can do all things through Christ because nothing is impossible for him? But for this man, “I can’t” was the truth. He had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. He couldn’t make his own way through the crowds of infirm people hoping to bathe in the healing waters of the pool of Bethesda. So he waited for someone to help him get in.

What he obviously couldn’t do, Jesus did.

Jesus knew the man’s problem and realized what he wanted. He also knew that on his own, the man had no hope of changing his situation.

“Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Jesus commanded, and in an instant, the man’s body strengthened and he began walking.

I can’t!

Sometimes those are the very words Jesus wants to hear. When they come from the lips of someone who understands his own limitations, there’s a good chance that this person will realize his need for complete dependence on Christ.

When life stretches you beyond your limitations, you are right where God wants you. God loves to do his most spectacular work at such times. Who knows what might happen for those who humbly acknowledge their weakness and inability and cry out to God for a miracle?