Taking the higher road
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep’s Gate, a pool which is called Bethesda. Here a great number of disabled persons used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in that condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir”, the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said, “Take up your mat and walk”. At once the man was cured. John 5:1-16
While there are a number of amazing lessons in this short scripture, I want to focus on just one: Our expectations versus God’s solutions.
The crippled man had an expectation, namely, that the water would heal him.
However, Jesus comes to him, asks him a question, then tells him to take up his bed and walk. He was healed. But not in the way he expected.
How often do we pray to God telling Him our situation, then telling Him our expected outcome? It’s a bit like going to the doctor and saying, “Doc, I have a sharp pain in my stomach which I know to be an ulcer. Please prescribe for me Zantac, 150 milligrams, thanks and see you later”. Shouldn’t we, instead, tell the expert what we are feeling and then let him or her decide the appropriate solution?
Our Heavenly Father is the ultimate Expert. He knows our needs, and more importantly, knows the solution to them. Jesus modelled this to us when He prayed to God in Gethsemane, “Not My will but Yours be done”.
In your prayers today, and tomorrow, remember who the Expert is. Lay your needs at His feet, then listen and watch as He meets those. It will happen every time!
Prayer
Awesome Father, I thank you for your power to understand and meet all my needs. I pray today that You instill in me a confidence, rooted in Your Grace and Mercy, that you can and will meet all those needs in a way that is ultimately best. Thank You Father. I pray this in the name of Your Holy Son Jesus Christ. Amen. Dan Houston
Listen to Today’s Message
Download Today’s Message
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting 