Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”
But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.'”
They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”
The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”(John 5:1-17 TM)
Of course we have a time line in which things should happen. We should be married by a certain age, we should have the career, the house, the car, we want by year 200- and we should have children by this age. And no matter how many times we see our time line fail, we continue to inform God how things are supposed to go down.
In the scripture above we see that Jesus was on no man’s timetable. First let’s look at the invalid which he healed. The scripture says he had been there for 38 years. Jesus was 33 years old when he started his ministry, 36 when he died, so how many times in his life had he passed this man? All his life. Why in that time had Jesus not healed him? Why did he allow him to suffer for 33+ years. We may never know. But it was perfect timing, he says later in the scripture He only does what He sees the father doing (verse 19-20), so when He healed this man it was because He knew that was the moment and the day.
Let us take a moment to also see another point here that shows God’s timing. The Jews (Or Pharisees, in this case) became angry because he healed a man on the sabbath, which was against Jewish law. Again, God is not bound by man’s timing. Or, there were hundreds of invalids there that day, why did Jesus only heal the one?
I may never know the answers to this until heaven. Did God cause this man to be an invalid? No. Did He always intend to heal him? Yes. So what was he waiting for? The perfect time that He, and this invalid, would receive the most benefit of the moment. It is not always about us, in fact your miracle and healing never is. It is always in order to bring God’s glory to others around you. Eternal Perspective says you already have breakthrough, miracles, and healing. God is not on your time line, or on this world’s. He stands above the line of time and sees beginning to end. So Eternally He sees you where you want to be, but you only see where you are.
While the trials we are walking through seem to reflect God’s indifference the truth is He is at work on your behalf, and He always has intended, and indeed will, bring your breakthrough if we remain faithful.
So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit…
Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job… Be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs… God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you… The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.
(Galatians 6:9; 1Peter 4:12; 1Peter5:7;11 TM)