The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon

“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.”

—John 5:7

This man had been ill for thirty–eight years, and he thought there was no hope. He had decided that the healing pool was his only answer and that he would never be able to get in it because he had no one to help him.

This miracle reveals that when Jesus shows up in our lives, he fills the lack left by others. It is right and Christlike for others to bear our burdens, come alongside us in our hurts, and work to right the wrongs they might’ve done to us, but that’s never guaranteed in this broken world. 

Parents, spouses, children, and friends may fail us, but ultimately, we can be made whole even if everyone else is letting us down. 

We’re not guaranteed all physical healing in these mortal bodies, but God is all we need for complete spiritual healing; no other person’s action or inaction can keep us from that. We don’t need a pool stirred by an angel or a man to put us in it. We need only follow Jesus’s instruction after he asks, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6).

Sadly, there are often areas in which we don’t want to be made well and are unwilling to obey—small sins and grievances, great sins and hurts, holding on to anger and unforgiveness, addictions, and the cares and pleasures of this world that so easily distract us from him.

May we desire to be made whole in all things, and may we trust the Lord to do it.

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