Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Strength To Obey Comes As We Obey

JOHN 5:1-9 – After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

THEME OF THE DAY. STRENGTH TO OBEY COMES AS WE OBEY. The account in today’s scripture is exciting, riveting, and full of instruction. There are a lot of people involved, but the main characters are two; Jesus and an invalid man. And not just any invalid man. He suffered a lifetime in this condition. Thirty-eight years to be exact. Think about him for a moment. How many despairing days did he experience? How much envy gripped his soul especially during feast times when many healthy people who could walk just strolled by him? Maybe even looking down at him. I wonder how many lonely nights of feeling hopeless he endured? Then I thought what might have gone through his head when Jesus asked the question, “Do you want to be healed?” Did he have thoughts like, “Are you serious? Of course, I want to be healed” or maybe, “Are you making fun of me?” or still yet, “Why are you asking me this? Can you help me?”

Whatever the short dialogue was like between Jesus and the invalid man, it took on a whole new twist when Jesus commanded, yes, commanded the man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” He didn’t ask. Our Lord came to him with authority commanding the man to do what he could not do on his own. And that, beloved, is exactly the way the Lord Jesus deals with each us. He gives us commands to obey knowing we have not the strength or ability to obey what He commands. Yes, it sounds confusing. It might even sound “unfair” for God to tell us to do something we cannot do. But God is never unfair. Never. Oh, His ways are not our ways, but they are the best ways. In this account with the invalid man and His daily dealing with us, the lesson is clear. Jesus commands us to do what we cannot obey but, in the attempt to obey, He gives the strength to obey. Don’t miss this because what is being illustrated is the life of faith.

Faith takes God at His Word, not only in His promises, but in obeying His commands. Too often we don’t obey because we know we cannot. Unbelief rushes in and we make no attempt out of fear of inadequacy and inability. For instance, Jesus gives the command, “Go into all the world and be My witness” (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Out of our sense of total inability, we do nothing. But the proper response to the Lord’s commands is that of the invalid man. What did he do when Jesus commanded him to do what he could not? He stepped out in faith which is obedience to what Jesus said to do. The text reads, “At once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” It does not tell us that the man waited to be healed, then walked. Nor does it say that the man did nothing. No. Jesus commanded. He stepped out and in exercising faith in the Lord’s Word, he was enabled to do what he could not. It will be the same for us. Don’t delay obedience out of fear or sense of inability. Focus more on who gave the command, the Lord, and by faith, trust that He will give us the strength to obey, not before we obey, but as we obey. He will. Why? Because of faith. Faith and obedience are inseparable. And the Lord has told us that we walk (obey) by faith, not reason, sense, or in our own strength.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to walk by faith, not sight or feelings, in obedience to Your commands.”

QUOTE: “God never gives a command without providing the strength to obey it.”