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the ones still waiting

Hello, friends! It’s been a while since I posted, and for lots of reasons! My schedule has been super full (all great things), and I wanted to pour into the blog when I felt I could do it in peace and not pressure. I finally had some time today, and I wanted to share something the Lord taught me over the last month! We’re starting out with a passage from one of the gospels!

John 5:1-9a, “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 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.“

I wanted to lead with this passage because while it is powerful in highlighting Jesus’ ability to save the broken and hurting, it also indirectly speaks to another group of people – those who did not recieve healing. Most times when we read John 5, we focus on the miracle that takes place here, but today I want to talk about this passage from a different angle, and honestly, one that I think we can all relate to.

We see Jesus heal a man, but we’re also made aware that the one man Jesus healed is not the only one in need of healing. Verse 3 tells us there were “a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed”.

This pool in Bethesda was not a place known for good news or celebration. It was a place where people who had stories, prayers, disappointments, and broken dreams went in times of waiting. When the water stirred, these people believed the first to reach it would be healed. They waited day in and day out for this water to move.

As we read the passage above, in a crowd of hurting people, only one was chosen that day. The man who was healed wasn’t the only one searching for help, but why was he the only one that received it? What about the others who were still waiting?

This pain feels familiar to a lot of us – we see other people getting the very thing we’ve prayed for, we watch others walk in joy we so desperately need for our circumstances, we witness the redemption in their stories while ours still feels stuck. And this isn’t always jealousy or bitterness – just a simple fact that trusting God with your future can also come with pain from seeing the people around you get the very thing you so desperately want.

Our lives are all very different, but we all know the man who walked away healed while we sat behind and watched. We all know the individual who moved into a different season while we’re stuck in the hurting and waiting. I don’t know the names or the stories of the multitude of people who were also by that pool this day, but I do know they must have felt unseen, unloved, and forgotten.

It’s hard not to ask, “God, why couldn’t you have just saved everyone that day?” It’s not like He doesn’t have the power to do it. Or, another side of the story, “God, why didn’t you just heal everyone?”

I want to speak to anyone who is feeling this way in their own life – Jesus moves with intentionality, not favoritism. Sometimes God will bless (or heal) one person in a moment while another waits years for their blessing/healing. Sometimes healing comes suddenly for one, and painfully slowly for another.

I love sharing the scene in The Chosen when Jesus and Little James are talking about why Jesus hasn’t healed him yet. He was commanded to go out and heal those who are ill and disabled, yet he walks with a limp himself. Jesus says to him, “In the Father’s will I could heal you right now, and you would have a good story to tell… But there are already dozens who can already tell that story. And there will be hundreds more, even thousands. But think of the story you have, especially in this journey to come if I don’t heal you. To know how to proclaim that you still praise God in spite of this. To know how to focus on all that matters so much more than the body. To show people that you can be patient with your suffering here on Earth because you know you will spend your eternity with no suffering. Not everyone can understand that. How many people do you think the Father and I trust this with?”

Though it isn’t exactly credited from the Bible, it captures the heart of Jesus toward those who wait and are consistent in showing up. Being surrounded by testimonies of God’s faithfulness while you’re still waiting on yours can feel confusing. Watching God move in other people’s lives while ignoring yours can feels personal. I’ve been there – watching God move in rooms I’m standing in, begging Him for healing, yet feeling like the one left lying by the pool as He walks out with someone else.

But here’s the turning point – what’s even more powerful than receiving the blessing is still choosing to praise God when you still don’t have it. It’s choosing to look at Jesus over the water, over the blessing, over the miracle. Because what if the real miracle wasn’t the healing itself? What if the real miracle is the presence of Jesus? See, most of the crowd were waiting for the stirring of water, not the arrival of Jesus. And when He arrived at the pool, walking right past the place the others were staring at, they missed Him. Friends, the blessing or healing is not the point – Jesus is. Little James was one of the very few entrusted by the Father to demonstrate His goodness, even when he struggled to see it in his own life.

I want to add another detail from this passage that is easily overlooked: the man who recieved healing didn’t ask for it. He never called out, never touched Jesus’ cloak, never showed remarkable faith. Jesus initiated the healing. This tells us so much about God’s timing. Our miracle isn’t dependent on how loudly we cry out. Our blessing won’t be blocked out by silence or exhaustion. God chooses us even in our passivity, weakness, confusion, unbelief, and disappointment.

I want us to put ourselves in this story as the ones who didn’t receive the healing but still saw Jesus walk in. Imagine being there and seeing Jesus walk by. He heals someone else. You see someone else jumping and crying tears of joy because they received something you’ve longed for. You didn’t get picked to be the one person healed that day. But you did witness the presence of God. Even though one person was healed that day, dozens witnessed a miracle. It’s so easy to forget, but witnessing Jesus is in itself a miracle too.

The hard truth I want to get across to you today is that not getting the miracle doesn’t mean you’re overlooked. Being the one still waiting doesn’t mean you are forgotten. It means He may be doing deeper healing in the waiting. He’s strengthening your character to receive even more blessings to come. He’s removing the wrong things and wrong people to make room for the right ones. And He’s trusted you to walk through that season with grace and patience.

Feeling invisible, unnoticed, forgotten is something a lot of Christians wrestle with – but God’s character doesn’t change based on what has or hasn’t happened yet. Jesus didn’t only visit Bethesda once. He moved from city to city, story to story, life to life. Just because your miracle didn’t happen today, doesn’t mean it’s walked past you forever. It means God’s not done. You’ll be the one walking out of the gate healed, but until then, don’t ignore the miracle of Jesus Himself. He’s entrusted you with your story.

Thanks for reading today friends!