Page 15 - Week of Emphasis Devotional

Daily text: John 5: 1-8

For 38 years he had struggled with his disability, overcoming one challenge after another to
stay alive. In Jesus’ day, illness and disease were seen as punishment from God. The sick and
disabled were shunned, forced to huddle at the Pool of Bethesda, outside the city walls.

The name of the pool, “Bethesda,” is Aramaic. It means, “House of Mercy.” John tells us that
within its porches lay “a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for
the moving of the water.” (John. 5:3, NKJV) The covered colonnades would have provided
shade for the disabled. However, there was another reason for the popularity of the Pool of
Bethesda. Legend had it that an angel would come down into the pool and “stir up the water.”
The first person into the pool after the stirring of the water “was made well of whatever disease
[they] had.” (John. 5:4, NKJV) The Bible does not teach that this actually happened, and it may
well have been just a local superstition.

“Sir, I have no [one] to help me into the pool,” (Jn. 5:7, NKJV) reflected the lack of support
available to the paralytic and others like him. Then, along came Jesus and everything
changed.

Around the world, persons with disabilities make up 15% of the global population,
representing over 1 billion people, many of them in conflict or protracted crisis settings. Like
1
Jesus, ADRA Canada works to identify and remove barriers faced by persons with disabilities.
Like Jesus, ADRA Canada seeks to give the gift of inclusion.

Questions for reflection/discussion:

1. Do you know someone who lives with disability? What are some of their unique
challenges? How are they overcoming these challenges?

2. We all face unique challenges, whether they are physical, relational, mental, spiritual,
or others. When dealing with these challenges, we can decide whether they will be a
setback or a stepping stone. How does God use our challenges to bring blessings and
shine His glory in our lives?

3. Think of a person who overame incredible odds (Fanny Crosby, Mephibosheth, etc.). To
what did they attribute their success?

Quote: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming it.”
-Helen Keller

Appeal: Will you thank God for making you just the way you are? Can you surrender your
disabilities to Him and ask Him to use you to encourage others and give glory to God?

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Great Physician and Balm in Gilead.
Everyone who came into contact with You never remained the same. Please bless us with this
experience. Help us to count our blessings and to be a blessing to others. Help us to see that
our human disability can become a God-ordained possibility to declare Your goodness and be
content in You today and forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

1 WHO and World Bank; World Report on Disability, 2011
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