7: Being a Disciple When You are Stuck

Key Passage

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 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?”

John 5:1-6

Devotional

Have you ever felt stuck? You probably had your reasons. The man at the pool certainly did. The effects of a physical disability for 38 years take a toll on a person’s spirit, soul, and body.

It’s important to realize that God meets us when we are stuck. How does Jesus invite us into discipleship when we are stuck? The healing of the man at the pool provides us a sequence of God’s dealings with us.

1. Jesus goes to us.

Just as Jesus went to this pool of broken people, He finds us today in our pools of illness, discouragement, and despair. Jesus greets us and understands us. He also desires for us to not stay stuck. He has more for us on the journey of discipleship. Friend, when you do not have the strength to reach out to God, know that God has reached out to you. This is the message of the Gospel.

2. Jesus understands us. 

Jesus spends time learning about the man’s condition. Jesus Himself was acquainted with suffering and understands us in our pain and frustration.

3. Jesus pulls on the heart.

Notice the question that Jesus asks the man. Some people may find this question a bit absurd, “Do you want to get well?” Before Jesus pulls us out of pain and stuckness, He begins a work in our hearts with a desire for more.

4. Jesus gives us an action. 

“Take up your mat and walk” is Jesus' advice to the broken man. Notice how Jesus' action bypasses the excuse of the pool entirely.

Where is an area where you feel stuck? What action is God inviting you to today?

Daily Prayer

“Jesus, thank you that you do not leave me stuck. Instead, you meet me in my mess and invite me to take a step of faith. I wait on you today and ask you to reveal to me a small step I can take in the midst of my pain and stuckness. I trust you for the outcome of my small steps of obedience.”