One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When 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?” John 5:5-6
Thirty-eight years. Every time I read this passage from the Bible, I am amazed all over again. This man laid by the Pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years. Day in, day out, he waited for the waters to stir, tried his hardest to get into the pool, and drowned in disappointment. He did this over and over for thirty-eight years.
It would have had to start to wear on him. Can’t you just imagine the levels of discouragement he lived with? He could do nothing for himself. His one chance at wellness depended on perfect timing, but he didn’t have the power to orchestrate a plan for himself. So, he lost out over and over again.
He probably had nieces and nephews younger than the lifetime he’d spent at the pool. They were growing and changing, going to school, learning trades, or getting married while he just laid there. Waiting, trying, and failing.
But then Jesus showed up. If you happen to read this passage in a Bible where the words Jesus spoke are typed in red, then it’s easy to see exactly how much Jesus actually said to this man. Fourteen words. That’s all. After thirty-eight years, fourteen words changed his life.
The power he’d been waiting for finally came. It arrived from a source outside of himself. There was nothing he could have done to call it into being, and there was nothing he could have done to weaken it. God is God. In Christ, he is grace, he is healing, and he is the most supreme eternal power. And in a flash, he wiped out years and years of frustrations, of limitations, and of disappointments.
Do you have a prayer you’ve been praying for a long time? Have you been lying around your own Pool of Bethesda, waiting for the waters to stir, and watching for the gracious power you need?
If so, then I’d like to encourage you by saying that it will come. We seldom know how God will choose to work in our lives, but we can rest confidently in the truth that he will. Keep telling him about your heart’s desire. Don’t give up listening to him and watching for him.
God’s timing is always just right. Our job is to grow more patient, to deepen our character with the willingness to sit still, and to cultivate an ease in our attitudes that welcomes whatever the Lord sends in his own good time.
In Psalms 62:1 (ESV) it is written, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” That one unanswered prayer that has been such a long time coming is a matter that requires God’s attention alone. He wants to be the one to provide for us, and he wants to do it in his time and in his way, supplying riches for us straight from his storehouse of heavenly treasure.
Keep waiting and keep praying because one day Jesus will suddenly walk onto the scene. In a matter of a few well-chosen words, he will turn the situation upside down.
“I have no one to help me,” the man said to Jesus.
Instead of meeting the one need to cover the short distance to the pool, Jesus erased all limitations by giving him a new life. The man now had the mobility to go wherever he wanted.
Our prayers matter. God listens and he rewards the faith you place in him.
