“Jesus 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.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:6-9)
When we encounter difficulties, we immediately contemplate how we can solve them. We think about what has worked for us or others in the past. We scheme and manipulate in our own strength and resources. Then we wonder why nothing changes and God seems so distant.
God allowed a problem in this lame man’s life that only He could fix. Unfortunately, the man focused on “man-made” solutions: if only he could get wet at the right time (after all, that had supposedly cured someone else!). Jesus offered an easy solution: simply turn to Him and do what He said. When the man followed Jesus’ instructions, his problem was gone… immediately.
Let us “Cast all your cares on Him” (I Peter 5:7) instead of trusting in our own solutions. Let’s learn to pray and wait on the Lord to make the first move. The prophet Jeremiah addresses this issue a little more bluntly, but just as truthfully: “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 17:5,7).
In what situation do you need to stop thinking and manipulating and start praying and waiting? God has the answer and wants to help!