"When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?"
John 5:6
Reading this today I realized that Christ must have known that the man wanted to be healed, but he still asked, and I like that. God very carefully respects us and our choices. That doesn't mean he does what we want, or let us choose the consequences of those choices, but he is super careful to never overstep and make that kind of significant choice for us. He offers blessings, but doesn't force us to take them. He lets us learn from trial and error, and keeps teaching us more and move, according to our ability and desire in listening and applying our existing knowledge.
That's got to be difficult as a parent... he knows that he could make everything better for everyone, and one day he will, but if he stepped in every time we wanted him to, we wouldn't learn those important lessons like patience and endurance--nor would we know the sweet joy of freedom or relief *after* the trial, when we know a lot more about the absence of both of those... maybe that is part of life being about joy. Hard to feel real joy when you haven't known any sorrow or grief. After our literal life-lessons, we'll understand much more how blessed and good we have it, and the joy that stands before us in an eternity so much better than we have it now. ;)
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