He Will Meet You Where You Are

A certain girl lay at the pool with a multitude of others. Sick for many years, she waited at the pool. She waited for the angel to stir the water so someone might have mercy on her and place her in the water. Years went by as she begged for someone to help. Yet each of the others at the pool were in need and sick themselves. Each one waiting.... for the stirring.... for a miracle. Who might reach the water first? Only one will reap the healing that so many need. "I can't fix it myself" she told those near her as she writhed with pain but held tight to her old ways.

That girl was me... waiting by the pool just like the man in Bethesda in John 5:1-15. It tells the story of a man who was sick for 38 years. Day after day he waited at the Pool of Bethesda for a miracle. Everyday he waited for someone to have a little bit of pity on him and place him in the pool. He just needed one dip after the angel stirred the water. He needed one person to put him in the water before anyone else had stepped in. Year after year he yearned for a healing so he could live a life worth something. But no one cared for him enough.

Why Jesus came for him I cannot explain. Many others were there. Many others needed to be healed. The blind, lame, paralyzed and sick were there by the multitude. But Jesus had come to save this one man at the pool. Just like He always comes for me. I don't deserve it. I can't understand why he continues to be faithful to me. So many around me have needs so much greater than mine. But yet he continually comes where ever I am. He comes to find me amongst all the multitudes of people. He comes in spite of my rebellious heart and my tendency to want to control things.

"Do you want to be made well?" was the question Jesus asked the man. It's the same question he has asked me so many times. Just like the man at the pool, I said "I have nobody to put me in the water while it's stirred, everyone gets there before me." Excuses... I gave excuses for a very long time. "I don't have enough will power to overcome my behaviors." "It's too big to overcome."

Basically, do I really want to be made well? Or do I want to hang on to my sin? Do I still love my sinful ways so much that I am willing to stay sick in them? Do I still want to do things my way? Or will I allow God to begin a miracle in me?

This week I answered "Yes Lord, I want to be made well." I picked up my mat and I am walking away from the pool I once felt so prone to lounge at. It's time to quit waiting for the angel to stir the water. It's time to let Jesus make a change in me. It's time for a miracle.

The last instruction Jesus gave to the man was in the temple. Jesus goes to the temple to find the man and He tells him this "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." It's a warning. A warning I feel was meant for all of us. If you want to stay well... don't go back to the sin! Stay in the miracle He has made in you and trust Jesus to keep you pointed the right direction.

I don't know about you but I have decided to heed the warning. I have decided to sin no more, least a worse thing come upon me. I asked to be made well and Jesus started the process of healing in me. I am pointing myself towards that change. In His strength I will persevere tell I get to the goal.