This picture was taken while riding a boat down the San Antonio River in the summer of 2021. The resource for this river never runs dry because it is fed through a cluster of springs about three miles north of Downtown San Antonio near the University of the Incarnate Word. In the same way, God’s resources never run dry and are always available to help us go further and never stop so this day with God, dream big and keep going like the sick man we read about today in John 5:1-18.

The sick man in today’s passage wanted to be healed and spent thirty-eight years thinking that getting into the pool was the way. The blind, the lame, and paralyzed would wait for the water to stir because they believed an angel would cause the water to move and the first person to step into the water would be healed (v. 4).

When Jesus came to the pool, He asked this question to the man in verse 6, “Do you want to get well?” The man answers Jesus with kind of an excuse by saying he couldn’t get into the pool because of his physical burden and others always went ahead of him so he could never be the first one in the water to receive the blessing.

Many times, we are like the disabled man and kind of have excuses for the problem areas in our life. We think thoughts like if I just had enough money to buy this or that. If I had this skill or if I looked more like that person … or had their car … or had what they wear so I could get noticed … or that house to live in but maybe that’s not what we really need.

Maybe it comes down to simply not having enough faith to take action to make the problem better. The disabled man at the pool of Bethesda followed the command of Jesus in verse 8. The immediate cure came when he did what Jesus told him to do. All he needed was faith in Jesus and his willingness to take action.

The thought for me in today’s passage is to read the Word for solutions to my problems, to be patient, and work hard to make things better. The man at the pool of Bethesda was disabled for thirty-eight years yet he was finally rewarded when he refused to quit and followed what Jesus said to do.

This day with God, help lift people’s burdens by sharing the Word with them. Maybe they’ve tried for years to be free from some burden but all they really needed was faith in Jesus. Today, you have an opportunity to listen to someone’s burden, pray for them, and spark an interest in the Great Physician who can bring the solution they need.

Lord, we pray today that we get up and get moving. Grace has freed us so no one can restrict us and it unlocks our potential to fulfill the purpose You have for us. We’ve started by reading Your Word, praying, and now we ask that we go forward in the Truth for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.