+DEV+ Missed Opportunities

Date: January 20, 2011 10:32 PM
Topic: +DEV+ Missed Opportunities

Missed Opportunities

"[Jesus] asked him, 'Do you want to get well?' 'Sir,' the invalid replied, 'I have no one to help me...While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me'" (John 5:6b-7).
Scripture Focus: John 5:1-9

Waiting is increasingly difficult when we've experienced missed opportunities. When there are logical reasons to keep hope, it's easier to maintain faith. But as hope wanes, disappointment erodes our faith.

The man Jesus addressed at the pool of Bethesda experienced the cruel cycle of missed opportunities. Perhaps he appeared to be waiting hopefully as he sat with the others in need of healing. But his reply to Jesus suggests that he was past the point of even trying. His hopes were shattered with every missed opportunity for healing when the water was stirred. Perhaps Jesus talked to that particular man precisely because he was hopeless.

If the man had been miraculously healed after being the first one in the stirred water, he might have felt some how responsible for, or entitled to, his healing. But his healing wasn't based on effort, desire or faith; it rested in Jesus' power.

Though we feel hopeless, Jesus is able to restore. In our powerlessness, He is all-powerful.

Insight: Even if you are past the point of waiting for a miracle, Jesus can bring healing. He's all-powerful.