For more than three years I struggled with back pain every single day. I hoped a quick fix would remove it. Maybe an inversion table, an insole in my shoe, a pain pill, physical therapy, or a surgery. But none of those things I thought would help did. Instead, God provided a different solution (which I will share later).
I’m sure you have pain too. Your pain might be physical like mine, or it might be emotional. A family member abandoned you. A best friend betrayed you. A coworker criticized you. Your pain might be spiritual. Someone in the church was legalistic and rigid with you. Someone from the church wasn’t there for you when you asked for help and needed it the most. Someone that was supposed to keep your confidence in the church spread your secrets to others.
What I know about you and I is that we all have pain in our lives: physical, mental, or spiritual.
In John 5 we read about a man that had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years (John 5:5). Many years he had hoped to be cured (John 5:7). The man had a mechanism by which he thought he could be cured, but that had not worked (John 5:2-4, 6). After seeing this man Jesus tells him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk” (John 5:8, NASB).[1] Then John tells us, “Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day” (John 5:9).
Based on this man’s healing we learn that God sometimes fixes things in unexpected ways. We might be tight on money and think we need to get another job, but then God puts a friend in our life that shows us how to save money by cooking at home instead of eating out. We might have an old car that needs to be replaced, but the next thing we know we meet a mechanic that fixes our car for free. We might hate our job and think we need to find a new job, but then God gives us a new boss and the situation improves. Sometimes God fixes our problems in different and unique ways that we do not expect. I told that story at the beginning of our time together about my back pain because after three years the pain slowly diminished. I wish could say that physical therapy helped it, a pill caused it to go away, or surgery was the way it diminished and it was cured. But, God has fixed it in an unexpected way: I have to keep it strong by exercising, stretch at night before I go to bed, monitor how I stand/sit/sleep, walk a lot, and eat an anti-inflammatory diet. God has almost fixed the problem, but it was not in the way I thought. I have learned—like that man lying next to the pool of water—God often fixes our problems in ways we don’t expect.
[1] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.