"A Strange Question" May 22 Readings: 1 Kings 9-10, John 5:1–29, Psalm 66:1–8, Proverbs 13:17-18

 

 

Reading the Bible in 2023

Each day this year we will read a selection from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a portion of the Psalms, and part of Proverbs. By the end of the year, you will have read the entire Bible. We read this way to give you a bit of variety. In reading four portions of God's word in a day, one of them is bound to speak to your life!

NOTE: if you get behind, do not give up. Read today's readings and try to catch up when you have a chance. The goal is not to "accomplish a task" but to meet God in his word. Read the word. Also, if you are short on time, READ GOD'S WORD and skip my devotional!

Bible Readings: 1 Kings 9-10, John 5:1–29, Psalm 66:1–8, Proverbs 13:17-18

    Scriptures linked to Bible Gateway in ESV version 

Daily Devotional:  A Strange Question

There is no such thing as a stupid question, right? That’s what our teachers used to tell us. I think I asked a few in my day, and some of my classmates came pretty close. But to encourage people to ask freely and boldly, teachers and leaders continue to tell us that all questions are worthy.

Jesus asked a question that would make us scratch our heads in John 5. In Jerusalem, Jesus was walking by the Pool of Bethesda where invalids lay seeking healing. They believed that the first person to get into the water after the waters were stirred would be healed. There was a man who had been an invalid for 38 years beside the pool and Jesus asked him a corker of a question in verse 6.

“Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6)

Really? The man had been unable to lead a normal life or nearly 4 decades and was reduced to chasing a myth that the waters of Bethesda would bring healing. Unfortunately, he moved slowly and others always beat him into the water. So, day after day, year after year, he stayed there in his condition. “Do you want to be healed,” Jesus asked.

Maybe it isn’t such a stupid question after all. The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It causes us to cling to the things that destroy our lives, to love our sins and to hold on to that which is destroying us. The person whose soul is slowly being eaten away by the acid of anger and bitterness would rather hold onto the grudge than to forgive. That cheating spouse seeing his family disintegrating but will not give up his (or her) illicit pleasures. No matter how many painful hangovers or other destructive consequences the drunk or drug addict experiences, he or she still resists the cure. And often it is much less dramatic than this. Dishonesty. Slothfulness. A failure to be faithful at work, at school. Oh, and there are the twin Goliaths for so many today. Materialism and Pornography. Many are derailed by one and many by the other. Some by both.

And Jesus comes to us and says, “I will not only forgive your sins and take you to heaven one day, but as you trust me and walk in obedience to me day by day, I will heal you, I will transform you, I will remake you.” But you must yield to that transforming power and seek him with all your heart. Jesus has the healing power and is willing to give it to you. But you must be willing to be healed.

Do you want to be healed?

Father, I want to be healed. I want to be healed of every sin, every habit, every personality quirk that is not pleasing to you. May I be a man like your Son – more and more every day!

 

Consider God's Word:

Did one of these passages speak strongly to you today? Which one? 

Is there sin in your life that needs to be confessed and dealt with that was revealed in one of these passages? 

Is there a struggle in your life that one of these passages spoke to? 

Are there areas of your life where you are holding on to sin that you know you need to let go of or refusing to obey God where he has made his will clear to you?

Will you today do a spiritual inventory and let Jesus Christ have full control of your life?