A Poerful Two-letter Word

 

I’m Duane Matz and welcome to Today’s Living Word.

Joh 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.

So. A teeny two letter word that packs a wallop! And I hope this two-letter word found here in John will help all of us when we struggle unanswered or delayed answers to our prayers.

Think of what is being said here! The word “so” means “because.” Because  Jesus loved, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, He dropped everything He was doing and rushed to their side to heal Lazarus of his deadly disease. Is that what HE did? Or did HE hear of his terminal illness and just snapped His fingers, and commanded it to depart from him. Is that what He did?

 

He certainly could have done these things, but BECAUSE he loved them, He delayed for two full days; He allowed Lazarus to die! And in that delay, He taught them and us, the ultimate lesson to learn while travelling this sod. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (Jn 11:25) That truth alone should shore us up whenever difficulties come our way!

SO, because we are confident of Jesus’ love for us, indeed we, like Mary and Martha,  send word to Him of whate’er befalls us, and then we simply trust in that love to give us His perfect answers. Those answers can be summed up in three ways. Yes, No, or not yet. No matter how He answers we have the assurance of His love for us and in the long run, the blessed hope of eternal life! Though we may die, we shall live. So pray my friend!  He hears you! He loves you! He will answer in perfect compliance with His will, a will that is wrapped up in His love for you. perfectly!

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word.

Where Did Jesus Find Him?

 

I’m Duane Matz and welcome to Today’s Living Word.

Joh 5:2 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.

 

This was amazing, frantic urgent care in Jerusalem and I imagine once the whirlpool was turned on, an observer would note the depravity of man in the race to be the first one in the pool.  Pushing, shoving, punching, gouging,  and whatever else it would take to be the first one in! I picture this as about the same frenzy on display on the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving!

 

Jesus arrives on this scene in the midst of all the mayhem and spots this man who had an infirmity for 38 years. We aren’t told what his infirmity was, but it hindered him from getting to the pool. Long story short, Jesus heals him with these words, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”  And he did! But what I want you to catch here is this, where did he walk to? We’re told that he walked to the temple. It was the Sabbath, and he walked to church! Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."

He didn’t walk to the golf course, or drive up to the cottage, or attend his child’s soccer match. He went to church. And not just any church! A church loaded with hypocrites. He didn’t let the “holier than thou’s” keep him from worship, and neither should you or I. We have been delivered and healed from a far worse situation that a physical infirmity. We have been delivered from the crippling effects of sin, so let us be like this man at the pool of Bethesda! May our Deliverer (Jesus) find us in church on a regular basis, thanking Him and praising His name!

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word.