Early Morning God Moments

As much as I dislike getting up early with puppy, it does have its advantages. I have been able to have peaceful moments to myself before the kids awake, allowing me extra time with God.

The other morning I received a familiar scripture passage in a different light. I was reading in John about the man who had been crippled for 38 years. He (and every other sick or suffering person) were congregating (he was lying of course) around this 'healing' pool. The idea was that if you needed to be healed, taking a dip in this pool would do just that. So, obviously someone who was crippled would not be able to get into the pool for healing. No one would help him because they all wanted healing for themselves.

Eventually, Jesus comes along. He looks at the crippled man and asks, "do you want to get well?"

Now, usually we get stuck here. I have interpreted this (and have heard it interpreted) that if you want healing and restoration in your life...the answer lies with you. You have to want it, you have to choose it. While I believe that to be true to a certain extent, my eyes were opened to a new way of looking at this strange question from Jesus.

I don't think the crippled man was using his ailment as his security and comfort like we often do. I don't think he was wallowing in his sorrow like us either. I don't think he was afraid to step out and try a whole new way of life. I think plain and simply he couldn't. He was crippled and therefore couldn't move towards the healing he longed for.

So I don't think Jesus' question was a challenge in that way (you've got to want it, it's up to you). I think Jesus was trying to get this man's attention. I understand Jesus to be saying, "get your eyes off the pool and onto me!" It wasn't that the man didn't want the healing, he was just looking in the wrong direction. His healing didn't require traditional rituals...only one conversation with Jesus!

I had just finished praying for an awakening in me. To go deeper, growth, healing and restoration in certain areas of my life. And after reading this it was like God saying, "stop looking at books, others opinions, practical advise and action, resolutions, will power, or even Dr. Phil and get your eyes on me. You are crippled and you will never get to that pool for restoration. But that's okay...you don't need it...I'm here and that's all you need."

In Jesus we have everything we need for life and godliness. He has this enormous banquet table with the power to parent the way we want to, live the way we want to, love the way we want to and all we have to do is pull up a chair and dig in.