Expect the Unexpected!

Wait- To stay in a place, in expectation

Often times we wait for things to happen in our lives and we may even wait in expectation. However there are times that the unexpected takes place and brings blessings with it. John 1:1-15 tells the story of a man in Jerusalem waiting by the Sheep Gate called Bethesda. In the story we discover that a multitude of sick people rest near a pool by the gate expecting an angel to come down and trouble the water. Once the water was troubled the first one in the pool would be healed of their ailment. The main character in the story had been lying but the gate “waiting” for thirty-eight years.

One day Jesus was in the area and stopped by the pool. He saw the man and knew he had been there a long time. In verse six Jesus asks him a simple question, “Do you want to be made well?” The man must not have been expecting this because in his response he fails to answer the question. In verse seven he explains to Jesus that every time the angel shows someone would beat him to the pool and receive their healing leaving him to once again…“wait.” The conclusion of the story is that Jesus commands the man to take up his bed and walk. The man obeys and is not only healed but made whole from that day forth.

Let’s think about this; though the man was lying at the pool in expectation, it was the unexpected visit from Jesus that brought his healing. In his thirty-eight years of waiting he didn’t give up hope that he would one day be healed. Many before him may have given up and left or had someone come and carry them away. But this man continued to wait for the angel to come trouble the water, and he did not wait in vain because the visit he got was much better than a visit from an angel! So let us be mindful that as we wait in expectation, remember the man by Bethesda, because the Lord tells in Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways…” Always trust God and expect the unexpected!

Think about it!