Can you learn some lessons from the man at the Pool of Bethesda? Are you in God’s waiting room? Then take comfort in these insights from a veteran youth leader.
Once again, I’m hanging out—rather begrudgingly—in God’s waiting room. Ever been there? It’s the place where answers to prayer seem suspended in the heavens. Where something you thought would take 10 days is still incomplete after 10 years. Where you wonder if hopes you’d labeled as God-given dreams are actually spiritual fantasies caused by too much late-night pizza.
Lessons From the Man at the Pool of Bethesda
While waiting to hear from God, I’m encouraged by biblical saints. Let me share one.
Waiting to be healed?
Remember the man in John 5:1-15 who waited for healing at the Pool of Bethesda? He’d been there 38 years, hoping for the miracle of functioning legs. Don’t let your heart miss this. For 38 years, the man had tried to get into those healing waters! And for 38 years, other people had beaten him to it.
All those years of waiting resulted in disappointment. Thirty-eight years is a long time!
Jesus looked at the crippled man right where he was and said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (verse 8, NIV). In other words, “What you want isn’t in that pool. It’s right where you are!”
As I impatiently thrash around, wanting an immediate answer to my current prayer concern, Jesus reminds me. You can often find what you’re seeking right where you are… If you stand up on the inside and take it.
