Daily Bible Study
Topic: God's Care, Faith/Trust
If you're facing a problem that seems unsolvable, what do you do? If your problem is physical, you'd probably see a doctor; if your problem is financial, you might seek financial counseling; if emotional, you might talk with your pastor--whatever your problem is, it's likely you would use any methods available to provide a solution. But what if nothing worked? Jesus encountered a man like that in His ministry.
What Does God Say?
"Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 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?'
"'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 to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked" (John 5:1-9 NIV).
Jesus spoke to a paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda who had been unable to walk for 38 years. The man had been dealing with his affliction for so long, he must have had moments of hopelessness and despair--feeling he'd never be cured. But the waters in the pool offered some hope. (Evidently a legend existed that said the first person who got into the pool when the waters were stirred would be healed.) And this paralyzed man had waited and wished for someone to lower him into the waters when that happened but no one was available.
The point of this story is that when the paralyzed man encountered Jesus, his situation improved. Jesus made the difference in his life. He makes the difference in your life, too, when you know Him. His Spirit comes to live in you and begins to work all things out for your good and His glory (See Romans 8:28-29).
My Thoughts
Read again today's passage and answer these questions:
- What were the first words Jesus spoke to the paralyzed man?
- Why do you think Jesus asked him that?
- Did Jesus put the man into the waters?
- Instead of relying on a legend, what did Jesus do to help the man?
My Part
When you come to a place in life so difficult that you feel helpless and hopeless, and there is nothing you or anyone can do, what then? Then is when you must trust the only person who is able to help and can bring hope to any situation--Jesus. Will you trust Him today?
"Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28 NLT).
What Does God Say?
My Thoughts
My Part
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