John 5:6

When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole?

The omniscience of Jesus is again evident. The Lord did not need to inquire concerning the man's condition, its cause, or its duration, but knew all that inherently.

Wouldest thou be made whole ...? This was an offer of the Lord to heal the man, but the form of the question implied that the desire to be made whole was prerequisite to his healing. There was a recognition here of the fact, known to every physician, that certain persons, long invalid, finding it more satisfactory to rely totally upon the services of others than to assume any burden themselves, do not really desire to get well. What is true physically is likewise true spiritually, that the will to be made whole sometimes subsides or disappears from the heart of the sinner. Regarding this, Howard noted that:

His real difficulty lies precisely here (and so it is with us). We hear his promises, and our hearts run out to claim them; and we believe that we mean what we say. Yet this has happened time on time, and with some of us far longer than thirty-eight years, and this is all that has come of it. And why? Because we really do not want what we say we want and think that we want. "Men often mistake their imagination for their heart; and they believe they are converted as soon as they think of being converted."[5]