Pain to Purpose Devotional - DAY 37
Week 6: Jesus & The Early Church
SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV)
“Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”
Proverbs 3:5-8 (TPT)
“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart, rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make.Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong.Then you will find the healing refreshment your body and spirit long for.”
DEVO:
I don’t know about you but I’ve met so many people who seem to be comfortable in their pain. I’m not talking about people who have accepted certain realities of their situation, but rather those who have given up altogether on any sort of healing. People who have set up camp in their hurt and have stopped believing that God can offer any sort of restoration for their deepest wounds. People who have become so used to and comfortable in their brokenness that it becomes a way of life and they don’t even ask if the Lord wants to bring more healing to their ache.
I’ve also had conversations with and coached people who have healed to a certain extent but instead of walking in continual surrender to what The Lord wants to further do, hit a threshold and settled themselves halfway into the journey. Or people who claim they want to experience healing but aren’t willing to make the investment it requires -- whether it be time, energy or financial investment.
There is a story in scripture that reminds me of these people I’ve met. It is found in John 5 when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. There He comes to a natural spring pool called Bethesda where many disabled people would gather around and lie down. Some were blind, others lame or paralyzed. One such man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Jesus heard this man’s story about how long he had been in such a condition and asks him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6)
The question seems silly. Of course this man who has been incapacitated for almost forty years desires to be healed. Who wouldn’t want a cure for what ails them? But the question is an important one. Somewhere along the way, Jesus intuited that this man had not settled that question in his own heart. You see, as a custom Jesus’ family would pilgrimage to Jerusalem at least three times, every year, to go to the temple and worship. They would have entered through the same city gate each time, the gate located next to the pools of Bethesda. More than likely, Jesus would have seen this same man laying by the pools each time he passed by. And each time the man would have been on the same mat, surrounded by the same people, and demonstrating the same blasé sentiment toward healing.
You see, this place where this man and so many like him gathered was a pagan hangout. It was in this pool that the hurting would come in hopes that a pagan god of healing would restore what was broken in their bodies. They would near these waters in an attempt to get into them when the spring would start to bubble, thinking it was a sign of some sort of miracle to come from a false deity.
And here Jesus walks in. Into a place known for its connection to cultural myths and lies about healing. Into a place where the broken are searching for a cure. Into a place where He can offer something that no one else can.
So that question, do you want to get well? is a critical one because the people amassed around the water may think they are looking for healing, but the truth is they really aren’t. They’ve set up camp in their pain. They’ve made their bed in their hurt. They have come to a place where true healing cannot be found.
The story of this man continues in John 5:8-9: “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.”
The man answered Jesus’ question in the affirmative. He gave a resounding “yes” through his obedience to what Christ asked of him and it was then that he was healed.
So many times, I see people like those at this pool. They’ve laid down their mats next to a water that culture tells them can heal. They’ve put all their hope into a cure from something that is nothing more than a legend, a myth. They’ve set up shop in their pain and have refused to pick up their mat. They’ve refused living water for the optical illusions offered to them.
And just like this man, Jesus asks us do you want to get well? Because based on where He finds us, it looks as though we would rather splash about in the pool of despair and hopelessness than to get up and walk towards the healing He has to offer.
We’ve looked to things, maybe even some good things, to resolve our pain. We’ve found solidarity with others but have settled there. We’ve found solace in the “me too” of other’s company but we resist the call to move through our pain. We’ve accepted culture’s directions on where we can get fixed and so we wait beside something that will never, ever fully give us what we are looking for. Perhaps it can alleviate some of the symptoms of our pain, but it can never go deep into the source of our wounds and truly restore us from within.
The part I love most about this story is that Jesus is usually in situations where droves of wounded, hurting people come to Him, begging Him to heal them. Yet this story is so different. Here we see Jesus go to the place where many sick and hurting people are hanging out but He isn’t there to heal the masses. Instead, in this instance, He has come for the one.
In the same way, I believe Jesus enters the place where we have laid down our mat. He comes to the place where we have gotten comfortable in thinking that perhaps something else can heal us while also simultaneously having little hope that a cure will ever come. Unlike the woman with the bleeding problem from yesterday, we’ve given up trying to fight our way to the front of the line for restoration and instead have laid idly down beside a pool full of empty promises or coping mechanisms.
And there, in a crowd of wounded, He makes a beeline towards one. He crouches down, looks straight into your eyes and asks do you want to be healed? While it is easy to scoff at such a seemingly ridiculous question, it is vital to ask ourselves. Do I want to be healed? You may find yourself reactively answering yes but take a moment to think about your actions. Are they the decisions of someone who truly longs for healing? Are you looking to something that you think will bring you what you need, but in reality, only ushers in despair and disappointment? Are you settled into your hurt so much so that you’ve given up on any chance for healing?
Healing will mean change. Healing will usher in discomfort. Healing will require stepping into unfamiliar spaces. Healing may necessitate that you leave the people who have been tickling your ears, encouraging you to excuse your trauma-induced worldview. Healing demands that we abandon our victim mentality and operate from a place that trusts in Christ’s victory. Healing calls for a rewiring of our way of life to walk in the rhythms of wholeness only Jesus can offer us.
Healing will be uncomfortable, which is why when push comes to shove few people are willing to truly step into it. But those that do, find themselves walking (and eventually running) no longer confined to their mat.
Do you want to be healed? If so, I want to encourage you to resolve never to sit in your sickness. Get up from the place that has falsely promised you a solution and take the hand of the One who desires to truly heal you. Stand up in faith and walk towards healing that goes beyond what this world has to offer. Stop camping out in despair and move towards hope. It is then that you’ll start to see the stirring of the living water restore and heal you in ways you never thought possible.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:
Have you gotten too comfortable in your pain? Have you given up any hope of seeing healing on this side of heaven?
What are some cultural myths you’ve been looking to for healing? What are some places you’ve been seeking restoration that only Jesus can offer?
What would picking up your mat look like right now? In what ways does Jesus want you to step out in faithful obedience and trust Him in your healing process?
PRAYER:
Lord, there are ways in which I have laid down in my pain and have stopped fighting for hope. There are places where I’ve come, looking for healing, only to be relegated to the outer edges and stuck in my hurt. Help me to see the ways I’ve turned to cultural myths for restoration. Help me to stand up and walk away from that which cannot bring true healing. Show me what it looks like to obediently get up in faith and walk towards the hope you have for me. In your name, Amen.
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