A Different Way
by Annalene Holtzhausen
The pool of Bethesda was situated near one of Jerusalem’s gates and was also a place where a great number of disabled people used to lie, hoping to be healed by being the first one in the pool when the water was stirred ((John 5:3 and 7). One fine day Jesus arrived at the pool and saw a man lying there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. That is a long time to be disabled. I can only imagine how it have been for him to be surrounded by many other sick or disabled people - day in and day out. Every day he was hoping to be healed, but every day brought more disappointment. Hopeless and helpless.
Jesus asked him if he would like to get well, upon which he replied that he had no one to help him into the water. All this man saw as his hope to be healed, was the pool of Bethesda. With no hope of being helped into the pool, he probably fell into self-pity without hope for the future. But Jesus took no notice of the pool or the dilemma this man saw himself to be in. Jesus said to him: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). Immediately the man was healed, picked up his mat and walked.
Are you, maybe, waiting at your own ‘pool of Bethesda’ for an answer to prayer? Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we know the outcome we would like. In our asking and pleading with the Lord, we often build up an expectation of how we would like Him to answer us. Over time, we get stuck, and it’s almost as if we end up blinded. We only see one way, and actually, that’s our way. The man at the pool was also looking to people to help him. But no one was interested in doing so. Each was there for himself.
Jesus came along and healed this man in a completely different way. Most importantly, this man met Jesus that day. The Lord comes alongside us too, and longs for us to look to Him, not firstly to our solutions and then to Him.
It could be time to let go of the way we think things should work, and to just trust our loving Father for who He is. Even if things don’t work out the way we think they should, we can know that He has come to give us peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27, ESV).
Annalene Holtzhausen is on the Associate Team at Ellel, Africa. She is married to Renier, who introduced her to Ellel Ministries. She is a full-time mother to their two boys. Her passion is for the restoration of women’s hearts and for people to find their worth in the Lord.
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