Have you wondered why Jesus would ask the invalid man who was lying by the pool of Bethesda whether he wanted to get well? Does it not seem rather callous? To understand, we need to step into this man's shoes. When you are an invalid for 38 years, you can sort of get used to where you are at, kill your desire to get well and resign to your situation and rely on others to help you get by. Jesus by asking him whether he wanted to get well, opens up in him a desire that he has long given up on.John 5:1-6:
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.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?"
Desire is often looked down as a bad thing or something to be supressed and overcome. We need to realise that the ability to desire is a God given gift placed in us. To connect with God and to live in His will, we need to develop Godly desires. God is not interested in soul killing spirituality, a life lived by duty and obligations. Instead God is looking for mankind to live to its fullest, in total surrender, in total desire of Him alone. This is perhaps the secret to King David's full life, as he constantly declares his desires for God alone and that God will fulfill his desires.
Psalm 42:1-2
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Sometimes, we are fearful of getting in touch with our desires because we are afraid of what might be lurking in our hearts. However, we need to believe that we are children of the new covenant, and though we struggle with sin and have a tendency to go after false desires, we are really a new creation with a new heart given by God and empowered by the Spirit to desire and live in a way that brings glory to Him!
Ezekiel 36:25-27
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
This season how do you want to live? Do you want to live just the way you always have - just going about the same motions of life and doing things out of duty and obligation or do you want to awaken the desires in you that God has placed in your heart alone and live a rich abundant life? What do you really desire? Saint Iraneus said that "The glory of God is man fully alive". Blessed indeed are the ones who hunger and thirst after God!
