# 84 Lots of Questions

Joh 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

This is one of those occurrences in Scripture that leaves us asking a lot of questions! This man has been lame for 38 years. We don’t know how long he has been coming to this pool in hopes of being healed, but being lame, how did he get there in the first place? Who was bringing him to the pool? Why didn’t they wait with him so he had a shot at being the first one in? But, we read, he “had no man.”

Where’s the man? Where’s his father? Was this still another reason Jesus singled him out for healing at the pool? God’s concern for the fatherless is one of His “can’t miss” character traits found in Scripture!

Still another question is, “Why did Jesus heal just one?” There were multitudes of people there in need of healing. In other places in Scripture we read of Him going to great lengths to heal all who came to Him, but here, He heals only one? What gives?

I think this is one of those times in Scripture where the Sovereignty of God comes into play. Jesus and the Father are One. Jesus did only what the Father told Him to do, and here is what the Father says about His sovereignty in the matter of healing: “'Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. (De 32:39)

Some will be healed, some will not. Not all will live, some will die. We just need to know that He is in charge and we need to trust in His perfect will. All in all, we can be assured that in the end, His way is best. He is God, let Him decide. It was good enough for Job, let it be good enough for us. “And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD."  (Job 1:21)