Life itself is full of waiting. It takes a season for a tree to bear fruits. It takes sunshine and rain for a flower to bloom. It takes nine months before a mom gives birth. It takes years to get a diploma and wear a gown. It takes commitment to say yes and finally wear white boots. It takes persistence to grow a business. It takes courage to wait patiently and persistently.
God knows how many times I asked this question in the corner of my room with my downcast eyes when adulting kicked me. And I always did.
"Lord, when will be my turn? "
A question about many things in our life that keeps us waiting for His answer, it is also a fuel that keeps us believing, persevering, and hoping that the best is yet to come. At times, it is so hard not to compare my life to other people, I would ask God, "why their path seems so easy?" Of course, He will always remind me, "I am here and I am with you." And everything seems flawless despite the winding curves and detours of life.
I think when we finally hit our prime age, pressures start to become so visible. We put deadlines that seem like death ends and give us more worries in life. When we bumped into one another the first question would be, "What are you doing right now" like tell me all your accomplishments in life, your relationship, your business, and other material stuff, and "tell me how busy you are." Instead of giving each other warm hugs and tapping on the shoulder.
I remember this old man who were asking this question for thirty-eight years, "When will be my turn?" One of my favorite miracles which always reminds me of who Jesus is.
The Healing at the Pool
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5: 1-14
Imagine, he had been trying his best to heal himself even though it cost him to believe a myth but no one was there to help him. He was accusing other people that they went ahead of him thus he never received healing but just a word from Jesus, he was healed. He believed in Jesus. I can't imagine this scene when he started picking up his mat and trying to walk for the first time in his life. He believed and the best moment of his life happened in just a few minutes of healing and coming to the one who truly heals and loves his lost soul.
Can't you believe that still? That is Jesus; he is the defender of our souls. Before curing the guy's paralyzed body, Jesus first restored his lost soul, which had been misplaced due to his long-held belief in a myth. However, once he realized that Jesus was the only one who could heal him, the man was cured.
And like this man, I often believed that miracles were necessary to make things right in our life. It might be our goals, relationships, finances, or a variety of other things. However, God is considerably more interested in our spiritual recovery than anything else. He wants us to develop a closer bond with him, to look into His eyes, and to follow His word just like the disabled man. Perhaps you do not have physical conditions but you have a heart condition just like most of us when trials and obstacles are coming our ways but let us be reminded that Jesus did it all 2 000 years ago and He never even change a bit and He can still do it today.
Perhaps, He is still fixing some issues in our hearts so when the right time comes those things we are waiting for and working for will be treasured and cherished because we waited for them to come. God is much more concerned with who are we becoming rather than those things we ought to have. Do you forget that God knows exactly the number of your hair? God knows exactly the number of your days. Does God know exactly your inmost being? How can he even forget your prayers?
Trust Him, His grace is enough. You are not hidden, you are seen, forgiven not condemned, valued and cherished not blemished, redeemed and honored not overlooked, pursued and loved by the lovers of souls, covered by His blood and healed in Jesus Name.
Beloved, all you need to do is to receive His amazing grace. Jesus did it all for you so you will have a new life in Him and you can come to the Father. Accept Jesus as your Savior, and ask the forgiveness of your sins. He died on the cross and gave His life for those who believeth in Him. He is the only way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through him. You can come as you are just like the invalid man but He doesn't like to stay as you are, there will be breakings and moldings for His children to be more like Him. God so loved the world, He gave his only Son that so whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ( John 3:16-18)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b]30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Matthew 19: 29-31
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
Isaiah 43:4
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
