Get up!

During our chapel time at work, we have been reading the Gospel of John. Yep... I got to pick! I love the Gospel of John. I could read it over and over and over again! Every page speaks to me. And even though I've read it numerous times, each time I read it I learn something new. This time around, the healing at the pool of Bethesda jumped out at me.

The fifth chapter of the Gospel of John tells the story of Jesus healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda. The Pool of Bethesda was in Jerusalem – although some writings say it was just outside the city wall of Jerusalem. In the days of Jesus, some people believed a superstition that an angel stirred the water. They thought the first person to get into the stirred water would be healed. Numerous disabled people lied there at the pool hoping to be healed. The lame, the blind, the paralyzed… waiting for their magic moment.

John 5:5-8 says, "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.”

So, the man picked up his mat and walked, instantly healed! Jesus spoke 14 simple words to him! There was no ritualistic process, no special prayer, no drama or theatrics. He just obeyed the Lord.

How often are we guilty of excuses in our disobedience? Not sure about you, but right now, God is teaching me a big lesson in this. My life has become a series of excuses. Let me explain. Early last year, I felt God nudging me to speak more - to open my mouth and share my story, to encourage those struggling to make sense to their past... maybe even their present.

Shortly after that, I was asked to speak at a local women's conference. I thought, this is what God must have been talking about. But a few months after I spoke, I once again felt God encouraging me to speak. I tried my best to ignore it. But anyone who's ever heard God's call knows He doesn't just go away just because YOU don't want to deal with it.

My life became one excuse after another... I don't have time on the weekends. I need to spend more time on my blog. I don't want to leave the dog home alone again. I need to be more spiritually prepared. I can't work all week AND be gone on the weekend. And if someone wants me to speak then they'll call. And then, "How do I know if it's really God saying those things. Maybe it's just all in my head." REALLY? Yep, really.

Like the man at the Pool of Bethesda, I was waiting for some magical sign. He was trying to do it the world's way. Lie there and wait, like everyone else. Wait for someone else to put him in the pool. Wait for the magical waters and then blame someone else when it doesn't happen. I was waiting. Waiting for someone else to do the work. Waiting for the world to provide a way.

But God is greater than any human ailment and this world's ideas are no substitute for the power of God. It only takes a few simple words to see God in action. And sometimes those words are "Here am I, Lord. Send me." We have to listen AND obey.

It wasn't that long ago that I was begging God to speak to me, begging to hear His voice. And He spoke! But my lack of faith left His words unheard or even worse... ignored. I prayed, He answered. He spoke encouragement and life, but I was afraid. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of messing up an assignment.

So, today I sit here in faith. Faith that God would not ask me to do something unless He was willing to see it through, willing to be the power and brains of this task He's asked of me. Faith that it is not I that is capable, but He who is within me. And faith isn't just a prayer or a hope or a dream. Faith is an action. The willingness to step forward, even in fear, and trust God will clear the path He has me on.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.