Bible Verse
When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
Here, you’ll know & learn:
・Verse Context
・Key Words
・References from Other Verses of the Bible
・Main Message
・How to Apply This Verse in Your Life
・How to Further Study the Verse
Have you ever noticed how the first time you pray for something, your heart beats with expectation, but after years of unanswered prayers, your words feel more like habit than hope? There's a man in the Bible who waited thirty-eight years for healing—that's longer than many of us have been alive. Today we're going to look at what happens to our hearts when God's timing stretches far beyond what we thought we could endure, and discover that Jesus doesn't just heal our bodies; He resurrects the hope we've buried along the way.
Short Devotional
In today’s verse, Jesus approaches a man who has been sick for thirty-eight years and asks him a startling question: "Do you want to get well?" At first, this seems almost cruel. But listen to the man's response—he doesn't say "yes." Instead, he explains all the reasons why healing hasn't worked out for him. He's watched other people get what he needs, year after year. Somewhere along the way, this man stopped being able to imagine his life without suffering. His hope didn't die all at once; it eroded slowly, one disappointment at a time, until he could only see obstacles instead of possibilities.
We do the same thing. When we've prayed for something over and over without seeing change, we start protecting ourselves from more disappointment. We lower our expectations. We rehearse all the reasons why things won't work out. We stop dreaming about what "better" could look like because it hurts less to expect nothing than to hope again and be crushed. But notice what Jesus does—He doesn't lecture this man about his lack of faith. He simply speaks life into a situation that had been dead for decades. Sometimes the miracle we need most isn't just the healing of our bodies, but the restoration of our ability to believe healing is even possible.
Let's Pray
Heavenly Father,
I come to You today carrying years of disappointment. I've prayed so many times for things that haven't changed, and I'm tired.
I'm like that man by the pool who waited thirty-eight years—I've watched others receive what I desperately need, and honestly, I've stopped believing my situation will ever be different.
I've gotten so good at explaining why things can't change that I've forgotten how to simply say "yes" when You ask if I want to be made whole.
Forgive me for letting disappointment kill my hope. Forgive me for protecting my heart so carefully that I've locked You out too.
I confess that somewhere along the way, I stopped believing You would come through for me. I've rehearsed my pain so many times that it's become more familiar than faith.
I've made peace with suffering because it felt safer than hoping again.
But You see me, just like You saw that man. You know how many years I've been waiting, how many prayers seem to have gone unanswered, how exhausted my heart has become.
Thank You that You don't require me to have strong faith or perfect hope before You move. Thank You that Your power isn't limited by my ability to believe.
Revive the hope I've buried. Restore my capacity to imagine that things could actually be different.
Help me respond to Your voice with simple trust instead of a list of reasons why nothing will change.
I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus, who speaks life into dead situations.
Amen.
Journaling Prompts
If Jesus asked you right now, "Do you want to get well?"—not just physically, but in any area of your life—would you answer with "yes" or would you start listing obstacles? What does your honest answer reveal?
How might God be trying to revive your hope right now, even before He changes your circumstances? What small invitation to trust again might you be missing?
Think about a time when you protected yourself from disappointment by lowering your expectations. How did that self-protection affect your relationship with God?
Jesus doesn't wait for our hope to be strong before He moves—He revives atrophied hope the same way He heals atrophied limbs. If you've been waiting so long that you've forgotten how to imagine things being different, you're exactly the person Jesus is looking for today. Keep talking to Him, even when the words feel empty, because He's closer than you think.
Until next time,
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May He make His face shine upon you;
And be gracious to you and give you peace.
God Bless!
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