Do you want to get well? Part 1

by: Eric Hixon

I do not know if you have ever looked at the account of the miracle at the Pool of Bethesda. However, if you haven’t, I encourage you to read it now.


"2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

7"Sir," the invalid replied, "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."

8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked."
John 5:2-9 (NKJV)

I have never been to the Holy Land but always wished I could. Maybe one day the Lord will allow that, but, until then, I can Google. When you see the pictures of this pool you can see its potential beauty with its 5 porches surrounding it. But then you realize this was a place of sickness. The unsanitary conditions alone make you cringe, and then you think of all the disease. It is enough to make you want to make me go bathe in hand sanitizer gel.
Why did the Lord give us this miracle? The Scriptures teach that if all the miracles that Jesus had done in His three years of public ministry were recorded that all the books in the world couldn’t contain them (John 21:25). I have thought about how this can apply to us today. Here are some things we can learn from this miracle.

OUR APPARENT COMFORT MAY KEEP US SICK
The Scriptures tell us this man had been in this condition a long time—38 years. More than likely, he had been at this pool for a long time as well. I think that this man had made himself as comfortable as possible. Even around all that sickness, he had himself a life and possibly even a daily routine. Perhaps he had made friends with others at the pool. The point is, he made himself comfortable around such a sick place.

Maybe you are pretty comfortable in your life. Perhaps where you are right now you are not exactly happy with the condition of the world, but you have found your place in it and are comfortable. Just like this man, unless some changes are made, you are headed toward a much greater sickness. We are not called to go with the flow and adjust to our cultural conditions. Maybe the guy at the pool was afraid of risking. If he became well, he would need to leave. Maybe all his friends were there. Maybe he did not have family to whom he could return, or perhaps he didn’t know where they were? I do not know what your fears are; however, you do, and God does. I do know this, you can get so comfortable that it keeps you sick.

Ask yourself some tough questions and evaluate whether you are spiritually comfortable? Are you satisfied with where you are in your spiritual growth? Do you know why you do what you do? Do you know for sure that you are doing God’s Work, God’s Way? How do you know? If it is not based on God’s Word, you may be a victim of a satanic delusion. Have you fallen into a trap of man’s tradition that has lead you to believe that what you are is doing is approved by God? Be very careful of getting comfortable. I do not know many soldiers that are in a battle that are comfortable.