I give up! Those are sweet words to the angels in heaven, who rejoice when a sinner is saved. Many times, until we give up God can't really begin to work in our lives.
I was reminded of this in a powerful way at Bible study tonight, where we studied from
John 5 about a man whom Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. This man had been paralyzed for thirty eight years, presumably waiting much of this time for an angel to come and cure his paralysis.
Our teacher
Gene Smith pointed out that there was another significant time of thirty eight years mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy.
"Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them." (Deuteronomy 2:14 NASB)
Gene thought that the Jews would recognize his thirty eight years of paralysis as a reference to the time that God denied Israel entry into the promised land due to their lack of faith. At that time the Israelites were paralyzed by fear. God told Moses that Israel must wander in the wilderness until every man of fighting age is dead.
Something in my spirit echoed this thought - thirty eight years is enough time for everything in us that wants to fight, to find our own solution, to use human strength instead of Godly power, is exhausted and dies.
The lame man at the pool of Bethesda had given up too. Perhaps his parents or some friends who had brought him here year after year for healing had finally given up, or perhaps they were just too old and lame to carry him there themselves. This man told Jesus he had no one to bring him to the pool when the angel stirred up the healing waters. The only known solution at that time had failed him, so when Jesus asked him if wanted to be healed, he could only offer an excuse why he couldn't be healed.
Now the miracle could begin. Now this man's heart was tender and open to a different kind of healing, not by balmy waters but by living water flowing through the healing hands of Jesus. Now the wall of human effort was down and the Spirit of God came crashing into his life when Jesus spoke the words,
"Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."
Faith was born in his heart that day. Faith to defy the temple priests who stood ready to exile him for picking up his bed on the Sabbath. Faith to accept Jesus at his word, even in place of the "medicine men" of his day. Faith that was willing to look foolish in front of a large crowd that knew him from years of struggling in this place. Faith that expected a miracle and caused him to rise in obedience and receive the healing touch from Jesus.
Pastor Gene told an amazing story of evangelism and healing when he was traveling on a mission to Brazil. The testimony of healing in one of his mission services led to an opportunity to testify before the president of one of the regional provinces, resulting in many conversions inside the capitol building.
In third world countries miracles are much more common and expected than in the modern world. I think this is because the wall of human effort is already down. The people are already "
poor in spirit" so faith finds an open door in their hearts. There is no human solution to their problems so they have to rely on the power of God. I spend most of my time planning and implementing my own solutions to my own problems. I think if I want to experience the true power of God I will need to let these "men of war" in my own life die.
