So Close Yet So Far Away

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“Wilt thou be made whole?”  Another version says, “Do you want to be made well?”  It is the Messiah asking the question of a lame man who has been coming to this pool for thirty-eight years. How he gets to poolside is not revealed to us. Perhaps a friend brings him and leaves him for the day, or he has learned to drag himself to the edge of miracle waters. So, close, yet so far away. His ready answer for the Messiah? Yes, but no one will help me.

The definition of the adjective well: in good health; free or recovered from illness. The synonyms: healthy, fine, fit, robust, strong, vigorous, blooming, thriving.

Jesus could be asking us, “Do you want to be happy, well, secure, at peace, content in all situations?”

This man had been coming daily and laying on a mat for thirty-eight years, beside the pool known as, Bethesda. It was believed that angels would come stir the waters. Whoever was first in the pool after the stir would be healed of whatever disease they had.

He was so close to his miracle and yet lay there in defeat, because he had no way to be the first to reach the pool. No one to help him. So, day after day, he watched as the world seemed to pass him by. In his mind, he was helpless.

Until this day! Jesus says,”Rise, take up your bed and walk.” Scripture tells us that immediately the man was made well, stood up and picked up his mat.

Thought For Today:

Do we look to others before we seek God? Do we stay in a miserable place in our life, waiting on someone to move us?  We often despair in our situation and yet are so close to the source and power of change.

Sometimes it is easier to just stay in situations that are difficult. We are afraid to make the decision to change the course our lives are on. It would be so much easier if someone else would help us do it. Make it possible. That takes the outcome from us and places it on someone else.

Jesus desires that all He died for, be well. He desires that we seek Him for our healing. Talk to Him about our concerns. Jesus and I or Jesus and you, can do magnificent things together. Lives change when He is invited in. Are we laying close to the healing relationship with Jesus? Kinda with Him but still at a distance? We can see the waters stirring but are afraid to get up and walk with Him?

I know there is perhaps the thought right about here, that some have drawn close to the Master and yet healing did not come. The healing of sickness in loved ones. I have experience with this struggle. Both my parents and two sisters were visited with very serious illness. I learned with the first one, my mom, that I needed a greater help than anyone close by, could give me. At first there was the question…why? I prayed for healing. I begged, really begged, for healing. Yet, one by one they left me to enter their heavenly home. The one left behind may feel abandoned by the “Healer” and yet we are assured that there is permanent, complete, wonderful healing for all eternity, that takes place in heaven. That is not punishment for us. How could their victory over death and sickness be punishment for the one left? We have the right to our sadness…or grief. Even Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus. He weeps with us in our loss here, but welcomes our loved ones with open arms and eternal health and well being.

So whether we seek healing for loved ones who are ill, or we seek healing for lives in chaos. Situations that seem hopeless. Times when we feel help just doesn’t come from family and friends. No one will rescue us. Jesus is just a breath away. A whisper from hearing us. You will have a sense that He is asking, “Do you want to be well? Then take up your mat and walk with Me.”

Scripture For Today:

John 5:2-8

2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 5 And  a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. (KJV)

Prayer For Today:

Hello Father! We pray for healing in our lives. Healing for illness that comes unexpectedly. Healing in those situations where we feel stuck in a place that seems, will never change. Healing for relationships that are in a broken state. Healing for decisions that we are afraid to make. Those moments when we are frozen in place by circumstance. Reveal to us today, Your love for us. Your Son who died for us. Our mediator in times of trouble. Our peace. Our source of grace in turmoil and fear. Thank You that You hear us when we call, and You answer us. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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