Imagine sitting in a venue of unimaginable size, with an audience made up of the peoples of all the ages. The buzz in the crowd is electrifying as anticipation reaches a climax and the God of the universe, the alpha and the omega, steps forward and in a booming voice announces, “Use common sense and sound judgment”. That’s it?!

“Do you want to be healed?” The first time I read this passage I thought what a dumb question! Was Jesus being dense? Of course he wants to be healed! He has been sick for thirty-eight years, beside a pool believed to heal anyone who can be the first to enter it after the waters move. Why would he be there if he didn’t want to be healed? What a strange question. So often when we cry out to God and are denied, we complain, like the man in the story did.

My boys loved Sesame Street. Thus, I have watched a lot of Sesame Street shows. One of my favorite songs was the song that helped children group things. Perhaps you know it? “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?”

Life is a battle isn’t it? We face battles every day like terminal illness, job insecurity, financial stress, relationship breakdown.

Perhaps, like David, you too have been on the front lines of battle. I know I have. I have faced intense spiritual warfare in my home. I have confronted the enemy as a pastor’s wife.