A WORKING GOD

The holiday season is in full swing. Thanksgiving has past and Christmas and New Years are just around the corner. Often times the holiday season is a unique time, we are hustling about trying to get things done but at the same time slowing down and reflecting on the past year. Amidst all of this, there is one aspect that does not change, God is still at work today as He has been throughout the last year and will be throughout all the years to come.

Today I want to take a look at John 5:1-17,

“5 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these porticoes lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, limping, or paralyzed. 5 Now a man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 Jesus, upon seeing this man lying there and knowing that he had already been in that condition for a long time, said to him, “Do you want to get 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.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” 9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.

Now it was a Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is a Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man went away, and informed the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on a Sabbath. 17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

In this passage we find Jesus passing by a pool on the way to Jerusalem. This pool had an angel that would periodically come and stir the waters, healing the first who entered into the pool (John 5:4). As Jesus was passing He sees a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years, Jesus asks the man if he would like to be  healed (John 5:6) to which the man replies “ 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. Jesus then simply tells the man to stand up and pick up his bedroll (John 5:8). This statement by Jesus ultimately leads the Jews to begin to plot on how to kill Jesus, not only because He healed on the Sabbath, a day when no works were permitted, but also Jesus put Himself equal with God. When Jesus was confronted by the Jews, He states my favorite verse in this passage, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” John 5:17.

In today’s world it is so easy to forget that we have a God who is indeed working for us. We have become accustomed to instant gratification so we feel that if we do not immediately receive an answer that God is not at work. This could not be farther from the truth. Jesus’s statement of “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” John 5:17 is as relevant now as it was then. God is at work today. While it may not be in ways that we can see at this moment, God is with us and is in control of the situation. This world has tried to push Him out and it may seem that the ruler of this world is winning, but Satan most definitely is not. “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 The God who creates light and darkness, who gives times of peace as well as times of uncertainty has not been pushed aside. He is very much active and has not lost control of this world.

For those who take the Bible seriously and know that there is a coming time of tribulation, there is something that you must understand. This world will not determine when the tribulation occurs. There is only one who can create that timeline and that is God. No amount of scheming can hurry it up.  “17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17. God was here before all things were created, He is what holds all things together. Satan may try to win over this world, as he did when he tempted Jesus, “8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8-9. Jesus knew that the only one who is worthy of praise and worship is God, who was at that moment putting His plan in place for the salvation of the world.

We must understand today, that in our moments of reflection, when we feel that God is not answering us that sometimes the silence in itself is an answer. God is at work today and we must keep this thought in mind. I encourage you to go back and look at our post on Moses at the Red Sea, this post shows again how God will work in unexpected ways, we simply need to have faith and lean on Him. If you wish to read this post, click here.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex