Our Daily Bread Devotional For June 16, 2024 : Topic – Hope of Healing
Read previous Our Daily Bread Devotionals here
Bible in a Year :
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked : John 5:9
Today’s Scripture : John 5:1-9
Insight
Because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, “the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (John 5:16). In response, He told them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (v. 17). This so incensed them that “they tried all the more to kill him” (v. 18). In their eyes, Christ deserved death because He wasn’t only breaking the Sabbath but blaspheming by calling God His Father. This Sabbath miracle wasn’t the only one that had the leaders up in arms. He also drove out a demon (Mark 1:21-28), healed a shriveled hand (Matthew 12:9-13), a crippled woman (Luke 13:10-17), and a man “whose arms and legs were swollen” (14:2 nlt). The Jewish leaders were also angry because Jesus’ disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
Message : A new cause for hope has emerged for people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. German researchers have discovered a way to stimulate nerve growth to reconnect the neural pathways between the muscles and the brain. The regrowth has enabled paralyzed mice to walk again, and testing will continue to determine whether the therapy is safe and effective for humans.
What science seeks to achieve on behalf of those who suffer paralysis, Jesus did through miracles. When he visited the pool at Bethesda, a place where many who ailed lingered in hopes of healing, Jesus sought out a man among them who “had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5). After confirming that the man did, indeed, wish to be healed, Christ instructed him to stand up and walk. “At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked” (v. 9).
We’re not promised that all our physical ailments will be healed by God—there were others at the pool who weren’t healed by Jesus that day. But those who put their trust in Him can experience the healing He brings—from despair to hope, bitterness to grace, hatred to love, accusation to a willingness to forgive. No scientific discovery (or pool of water) can offer us such healing; it only comes by faith.
Reflect & Pray
Where are you tempted to look for spiritual healing other than in God? How are you encouraged knowing that one day believers in Jesus will experience complete physical healing as well?
Thank You, dear God, for curing my greatest ailment—the plague of sin—and restoring my spiritual health through Jesus.