Going Through The Roof

From time to time I struggle with keeping faith. I want to have that mustard seed faith, but some days feel like there isn't anything to even work with. As I was reading my bible this morning, God gave me some encouragement.

In Luke 5:17-26 is the story of the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof to get to Jesus. Jesus we know, did heal him. Then I looked at John 5:1-18. It is about the sick man at the pool of Bethesda. He also was healed by Jesus. Two men healed but, there are important differences about them.

Jesus specifically refers to the paralyzed man in Luke as "young man". The man in John it's noted, was sick for 38 years. The young man, found a way into the meeting with Jesus to be healed. Even if it was his friends idea to lower him down the roof, the young man still was willing to or had faith to try. When Jesus approached the man sick for 38 years, he immediately focused on his circumstances.

John 5:6-7 says "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.”

This man had been sick for almost a generation. It's almost as if you could hear the defeat in his response to Jesus. I would gather to say his faith of being healed was running on empty. If it hadn't happened by year 10, 15, 20, or even year 35, what would make year 38 any different? But it was different because that day, Jesus showed up.

You end up with 2 different parallels for both of these passages. A young man with strong faith versus an older man with little to no faith. Again, both got healed. I hope to be like the young man. That no matter what obstacles I face, I'm getting to and holding onto Jesus. I will get my miracle! But then there's that other guy. He got healed when it seemed he was going into a pit of despair. Why did he get healed when his faith didn't seem very strong? Because as much as God is moved by faith, He is also moved by compassion.

Compassion is defined as "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it" Jesus saw this man's pain and sought to alleviate it. Jesus saw this man's focus was so much on his situation, that until it was handled he couldn't receive anything else Jesus needed him to hear. This is evidenced by John 5:13 which takes place after Jesus healed him. "But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Jesus took compassion on him and now He dealt with a root issue. He called the man to repentance.

As I sat and thought this morning, my aim is to be like the young man but I'm more like the older man. I want to always be that pillar of faith, yet I have moments when it seems I have no belief left. This morning God was saying it's ok. We are not perfect and as we are dealing with long spans of waiting, there will be valleys in our faith. It's in those valleys that when we are honest with God, like the man at the pool, God has compassion on us. He doesn't leave us when our faith is waining. His love isn't dependent on our faith.

This morning I heard God simply speak to me "Your faith isn't gone and I haven't forgotten what I said I'd do." That was the word I needed today. That was the compassion I needed. God will have compassion on us and then our ears can be "reopened" to really hear Him. Jesus healed the sick man and then his ears were opened to hear the call to repentance. God encouraged me and now my ears are open to hear HIm. God's act of compassion for you may look different than what it was for me. The point is is that when our faith is low, God's compassion for us remains high. He loves us whether we are at our peak or going through the valleys. Either way, turn to God and He will meet you where you are at!