Scripture: John 5:7-9
“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.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”
A few years ago, a well-intentioned gentleman approached me with an offer. He had been a successful businessman, recently retired, and wanted to “coach” me—for free. He had a plan, a system, and a vision for how my life and ministry could be more effective. He was so excited as he explained he wanted to make me his project.
“You have potential,” he said, leaning in like he was about to let me in on a great secret. “But you need to plan better. You need to learn to finish things. You need structure.”
He meant well, truly. He believed that if I just followed his carefully designed system, I’d be more efficient, more productive, and more successful.
And I’ll admit—there are plenty of areas in my life where his coaching really paid off.
But what he didn’t understand was that the most transformative moments of my life and ministry hadn’t come from a meticulously crafted plan. They had, however, come from unpredictable, unstructured, seemingly inconvenient moments where God moved outside the margins of what I expected.
That’s why I feel for the man at the pool of Bethesda. His plan for healing made perfect sense:
Get to the pool.
Wait for the stirring.
Be first in.
Get healed.
The only problem? It hadn’t worked. For thirty-eight years.
So when Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be healed?”, the man doesn’t answer with a simple yes or no. Instead, he explains why healing hasn’t happened—his strategy has been thwarted. “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up…” He assumes the only way to wholeness is the way he’s been waiting for all along.
How often do we do the same?
We don’t just ask for God’s help—we prescribe the exact way it should come:
If only the right person would come into my life…
If only I could get that job…
If only my church would change in this specific way…
If only my kids would …
We map out our breakthroughs and then get frustrated when God doesn’t follow the blueprint.
But Jesus bypasses the man’s expectations entirely. He doesn’t help him into the water. He doesn’t validate his plan. He doesn’t even acknowledge the pool.
Instead, He speaks healing directly: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
No water required.
God’s solutions often arrive in forms we haven’t anticipated. God’s healing frequently bypasses our carefully constructed methods and expectations.
The deliverance we seek may come—but rarely in the packaging we’ve imagined.
Some of my most significant spiritual breakthroughs have erupted in unexpected conversations, appeared in books I didn’t intend to read, or emerged from painful situations I tried desperately to avoid.
I wonder how often I’ve been waiting by my own version of Bethesda’s pool, missing the fact that Jesus was already offering something better—just in a way I hadn’t considered.
Where might you be waiting for a stirring pool when Jesus is already speaking healing into your life? What prayers might He already be answering—just not in the way you expected?
The invitation is not to map out God’s work, but to recognize it when it comes.
Prayer
Lord, I confess that I often come to You with my own carefully drawn plans, expecting You to follow my script. Forgive me for the times I’ve overlooked Your work simply because it didn’t look the way I imagined. Open my eyes to see the ways You are already moving in my life. Give me the faith to trust Your timing and the courage to step into the unknown when You call. I surrender my methods, my expectations, and my need for control—because I trust You more. Amen.