I tried to write this post several weeks ago but it didn’t have an ending, it didn’t have a conclusion. Andy said that it “was fine”, which is about as ugly as he gets about my writing. So, it didn’t get published. Instead it simply got pushed to the back and ignored.
It is strange, really, what you discover while you wait. Or perhaps, more accurately, what you learn yet again.
I have had John 5, and especially the man by the pool, brought to my attention several times recently. Repeatedly, really.
For anyone who doesn’t know that story... there was a pool in Israel where the water would sometimes seem to stir, to move, without any human understanding. The first one who could dunk themselves in that moving water would often receive a miracle. Those who were sick, who needed a miracle, would often congregate around the pool, hoping and praying for the water to stir and for a miracle to occur.
However, tradition held that for them to receive the miracle, they had to be the first one in. So, even though there was joy, there was always sadness there too.
The gospel of John says “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.” John 5:5-9 ESV
When I say this verse was “brought to my attention”, I mean in every way. A Sunday morning sermon, of course. A friend highlighting it on the Bible app so that I see it. It coming up in a devotional I am doing alone and also one with a friend. Then in an actual paper devotional as well, not just the digital ones. Then, just to make sure I was listening, a second paper devotional.
So, my friends, what am I suppose to learn from the man picking up his bed and being healed?
The answer to that is “I still don’t know.”
I don’t know what I am suppose to learn specifically from that story. I have had several ideas and I think they have all been “proven” wrong... I still don’t know what exactly I am suppose to be learning right now, from that story. But what I will tell you is that it has made me read more. Search more. Ask more.
And what it has led me to is truth, over and over.
Learning that “I don’t know” has, in complete honesty, helped me know other things so beautifully.
I know I just used it last time I wrote, but this verse says so clearly what my Jesus is teaching me right now. The Lord establishes my steps.
I can try to plan my course, have my goals, dream my dreams. None of those are evil. None of those are against my God.
But The Lord establishes my steps.
I either trust that or I don’t.
I either live that or I don’t.
That leads to one of my favorite verses.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
“Not on your own understanding”.
That sums it up my friends.
Trust.
Even if you don’t understand.
He will lead.
If you go back to that first verse I posted, the story in John, there is more to the story. You see, the man who was healed wasn’t brave enough to proclaim it. When he was questioned about technical difficulties he passed the blame immediately, rather than pointing out the obvious good.
Perhaps that is the lesson to learn? That one hasn’t been pointed out by any of the devotionals I have read but perhaps that is the one I am suppose to share.
Don’t make miracles more complicated, don’t make LIFE more complicated than it has to be.
Find the good. Choose the good. Share the good.
Jesus makes it good.
Be blessed my friends. One good moment at a time.
