When we are proved wrong...

"(...) knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, Jesus said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 

John 5:6

In Jerusalem there was a pool called Bethesda and it is told that from time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be healed of whatever disease they had.

There was a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. He would lie by the pool longing to be healed, even though his chance was almost null. He had no one to help him into the pool when the water was stirred- while he was trying to get in, someone else would go down ahead of him.

Bethesda in Hebrew means "House of mercy; house of kindness". That man didn´t know that THAT DAY he would meet and experience MERCY and KINDNESS in his life as Jesus came to encounter him by the pool! 

Jesus knew that he had been in that condition for a long time. In fact, Jesus knows every single detail of our lives: each fear, each dream.

"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar." 

Psalm 139:1-2

That man spent 38 years longing to be healed and the fact that he kept going to the pool time after time shows that he really hoped that he would be healed through the waters of the pool - but God proved him wrong. 

He thought he needed to go to such healing place. He thought he needed to do something (jump into the pool). He thought he needed someone to help him into the pool. Well, sometimes God will prove us wrong just to show us his LOVE and how that He is all we need indeed. Jesus showed that man that an encounter with MERCY AND KINDNESS in person was all he really needed in order to have his life changed for good and have his greatest dream fulfilled. 

Jesus loves to surprise us and to do things beyond our imagination. That´s why we shouldn´t be discouraged when things don´t happen the way we wanted or they simply seem not to happen at all. Jesus will always come and encounter us in our place of need and do things in a different way - and his ways are far more excellent than ours! 

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!" 

Ephesians 3:20 (MSG)

It is not about doing things, going to certain places, meeting the right people... It is all about knowing that MERCY AND KINDNESS WILL ALWAYS COME TO MEET US in the person of Jesus. It is all about Him. He wants to give us not only a good day, but an abundant life! Bethesda is not a place, it is a person and his name is Jesus. 

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