GET UP !!!!

John 5:6-7  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?"  "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." 

This story that Jesus tells about the invalid lying at the pool amazes me.  Now I heard this story many times in church but I never really got it until I heard Joyce Meyer talk about it.  I never looked at t before the way she did.  God has hit me over the head many times with this verse and He did again today.  Some people may get offended by the way I describe it and if that is you I apologize in advance.  But the way this story has infected me changes me and my attitude every time I hear it the way Joyce tells it.  It's almost like the ice bucket challenge, a cold splash in the face to wake me up.  You see to me this story is a story about most of us.   We lie around whining and complaining about our life.  We lie around a pool waiting for a magical healing.  Waiting for that one moment in time when an angel of the Lord will fly down from the heavens to stir up the healing pool and we will be the first one in the pool and receive our healing.  The only problem is we are an invalid , not physically but spiritually.  We wait for someone to come along and help us into the pool.  We don't think we have the strength to do it ourselves, we need someone else it do it for us.  We whine and moan and groan about our circumstances and we throw a pity party.  There is always someone else who gets their miracle before us.  It's not our fault, we are helpless.  We are an invalid.  We lie around waiting for years.  People this man had been laying by this pool for 38 years!  Whether he could move much or not is not mentioned but it sure seems like in 38 years he could have wiggled his way closer to the pool so that eventually he could just fall in the pool the moment the angel stirred up the water.

I think the problem here was did he really want to get well?  Think about that for a moment.  Don't we all now people who seem to love the attention they get when they are sick?  I think it was the same with this man.  Everyone was waiting on him, bringing him food, giving him money and he never had to lift a finger.  Okay maybe I am being a little dramatic here but bare with me for a moment or two.  Why should we have to work for something when we can get it for free?  Anyway back to the story.  38 years!  In 38 years he never had to work and had no responsibilities.  Everyone else was responsible for his happiness.  Nothing was his fault.  Jesus, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the all knowing, all seeing God had to ask this man, "Do you want to get well?"  Jesus didn't seem convinced that this man really wanted to get well so He had to ask.  Then the man answers with a line of excuses a mile long.  Don't we do the same thing?  Does God ask us, "Do you really want to be well?"  Do we constantly make excuses?   "It's not my fault!"  It;s always someone else's fault.  We blame our parents, we blame our siblings, we blame our friends, heck we even blame God.    We get in these moods of self pity and play the blame game instead of admitting our responsibility.  The simple fact is this, it is very painful to look in the mirror and realize you are responsible for the circumstances in your life.  You made the decisions for your life.  So did this man.  He had to deal with the consequences of his choices.  He chose to lie by that pool for 38 years and waited for someone else to help him instead of doing whatever he could do, wiggle!

John 5:8  Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 

Notice what Jesus says in this verse, "Get up!"  He didn't sit down beside Him commiserate with him and let the man cry on His shoulders.  He didn't say "Oh you poor thing.  Life has been so unfair to you."  He told Him to get up!  In my language that means "Stop whining!  Stop complaining!  Stop making excuses!  Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk!"  I am sure Jesus was very compassionate with the man as He is with us.  The invalid was a human being and sometimes when Satan attacks, we humans crumble into a heap and become paralyzed with fear and pain.  Spiritually and physically we can become so paralyzed that we end up siting and waiting for 38 years for someone to come along and rescue us.  Save us from the big bad boogie man who is out to get us.  What a waste of time!  We sink into a pity party and stop trying.  God will do what He can to heal us and restore us, but God will not do what we can do.  If we are sick lying by a healing pool waiting for an angel to stir up the water, we may not be able to walk into the water, but we can wiggle.  It may take us 10 years to wiggle our way closer to the pool but with each move we make we are doing our part and trusting in God to heal us when we finally fall into the pool.  10 years is a lot less time than 38 years.  

Listen I know life is hard, trust me I have had to endure times of just lying by the pool whining, complaining and blaming everyone else but me.  We have all been there a time or two.  People disappoint us, expectations are never met, things go wrong, finances become a disaster, a bad medical diagnosis, a marriage on the rocks, or death of a loved one.  These things can throw us back on the mat quickly.  But instead of just lying there, waiting for someone else to pick us up, we need to wiggle!  We need to get up!  We need to turn to our source, Jesus Christ.  Whenever I fall onto the mat, I turn to the Bible.  That always helps me feel better.  Then I turn up the music really loud and I get up and dance!  If you have a hard time getting up and dancing, then just start to wiggle.  You will be amazed how much better you will feel if you just start to wiggle.  Before long you will get up and dance.  Whining, complaining and playing the blame game is pointless and quite frankly a waste of time.  Sometimes it is painful but we have to look in the mirror and take a good, honest look at ourselves and realize the blame lies within us.  No one can put you on that mat unless you allow them to.  God will never put you on that mat, He is the ones who is routing for you to get up!  I truly believe that is only when we finally get up and do what we can do, then that is when God will do what we cannot do.  

God, please help me to learn what I need to learn about myself when I am lying on that mat.  I know you have already given me the strength to wiggle and get up, so help me tap into that ability and do what I can do so that you can do what I cannot.  When I get into times of whining, complaining and blaming, help me to learn to shut my mouth and instead get up and dance, in Jesus name I pray, amen.