Lent Day 14: Lame Man

Pause

Spend a few moments jotting down a list of situations or circumstances that threaten to distract you from focusing fully on God and His Word. Lift these up for God, expressing your trust that God is at work in these situations.

Read & Journal

Read John 5:1-9a. Ask yourself:

• What does Jesus’ interaction with this man teach you about Jesus’ character? About His mission or purpose?

• How do you see Jesus entering into brokenness in this passage?

• Consider Jesus’ question to the man in verse 6. What does the man’s response in verse 7 reveal about the man’s state of mind?

• When in your life have you felt a deep sense of hopelessness? Why? What was happening? When you look back now, can you see any ways God was at work that you couldn’t see during that time?

Ponder

Hopeless. After 38 years, the lame man had little hope that anything would ever change. His only hope, he seemed to believe, was in a mythical idea that when the waters of the pool were stirred, the first person to jump in would be healed. When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to get well, the man’s answer—a litany of all the reasons why he’d never be able to be well—revealed his state of mind. Nothing was ever going to change—not the man, not his affliction, not the situation. It was hopeless.

But Jesus entered into the man’s hopelessness and spoke the words of healing the man didn’t even seem to know he needed. What the man did seem to understand was that there was no way he was going to get better on his own. He needed a healer, and Jesus healed him instantly with just a few words.

Think about the seasons when hopelessness has crept into your heart. The relationship you think will never be reconciled. The addiction that will never be overcome. The dark season when the worries and concerns wake you up in the middle of the night. The circumstances, beloved friend or diagnosis that will never change. The sin you can’t conquer. The first step of healing is coming to the same understanding the lame man had: you need a healer. You can’t do it on your own. Whether it’s your need for salvation, a sin you can’t overcome or a dark season or situation that seems hopeless, you have a healer. His name is Jesus, and He can display His divine grace and power in your “hopeless” situation.