I have been praying on a certain issue for years. At times I feel as if God works like a crock pot, but I would rather He was a microwave.
I know God is hearing me and yes, the thought has crossed my mind that my answer could be a no but then I come across a part in the Bible that reminds me that my timing is defiantly not Gods.
The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath
John 5:1-15
“Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?”
7 “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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.”
As I was reading this the other morning right after my long prayer, I got stuck on one part of the passage for the longest time. No, it wasn’t on the fact of a healing on the Sabbath, yes that’s a big one but all I could see was a man had been an invalid for not one or two years but a LONG 38!! As I reread and thought about this, I had such a deep overwhelming connection to him. This man went to the pool year after year. He didn’t give up he just went like clockwork. His miracle came with no bells or whistles after all this time of waiting, in fact he couldn’t even say who, when asked. This man with no name has made such an imprint by his unwavering faith, his name wasn’t needed his action spoke volumes.
I won’t forget this man’s persistence. My prayer will be answered, it might come on a day that I wouldn’t think it should happen on or perhaps in such a quite way I won’t realize what is happening, but it will happen. It might take a bit more time, that’s all.
