“Do you want to get well?”, a question God asked me in my frailty. I want to get whole and holy yet my shame hindered me from seeking help. I felt stuck at old sinful patterns but my guilt hid me from the love of community.
This was the same question He asked a crippled man in Jerusalem thousands of years ago (John 5).
In the pool of Bethesda, there was one who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?’”
“Duhhh Jesus! Isn’t the answer so obvious!” One might think.
The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred. I don’t have anyone to put me in the pool.” Jesus said, “Get up, take your mat, and start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
Do you notice that getting well requires the man to trust God and do what He says? The man could have just said, “Hell nah, give me a wheelchair and pick me up.”
Jesus is saying, Do you want to cooperate with God’s ability to heal you? Are you willing to admit you are not okay and take the risk to confess that in reality? He is calling us to a risky-kind of faith to believe there is healing in our brokenness and weaknesses.
You might have been sick for so long that you grew numb of the wounds that makes you unforgiving and distrustful today. You hid in your messiness; not believing things can be any other way.
Shame breeds fear; and fear breeds silence. and Silence is the greatest enemy of willingness.
Do you want to get well?
We get well by going to the well..
To the word.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19: 7-8)
The word is a double-edged sword that is living and active. We come to know who we are in light of the Gospel.
To prayer.
“The close to the brokenhearted and He binds up their wounds,” (Psalm 34:18)
Prayer tunes our hearts and minds to God’s promise and truth.
To community.
Willingness to get well is often related to our ability to ask help. When I don’t feel God is for me and with me, I put myself in spaces where I hear how God works in my friends’ life as so to lean on their faith. It reminds my wandering heart of who He is.
———-
So, what are you believing God for healing on? Consider His sonship for you. Come out of hiding. It is time to pick up your mat, walk, and go home.
God, would you make us whole in Christ? Would you remind us that you have called us beloved sons and daughters? You see us and you care for us and you want to make us whole and holy—mirroring You. We long for your full redemption, but until we see You face to face, grow us in Your likeness. That your Kingdom may be portrayed beautifully here on earth.
He is the peace when our mind is at war,
Tam
It started with God first asking, "Do you want it?" He asked if I wanted what He has for me. Only when I was ready to say ‘Yes’, the next question He asked , "Do you now see what I want you to have?" And then He asked me "Do you now believe I can give this to you?