Acts 3:3-10\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.4\u00a0Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, \u201cLook at us!\u201d\u00a05\u00a0So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.\u00a0 6\u00a0Then Peter said, \u201cSilver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.\u201d\u00a07\u00a0Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man\u2019s feet and ankles became strong.\u00a08\u00a0He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping,\u00a0and praising God.\u00a09\u00a0When all the people\u00a0saw him walking and praising God,\u00a010\u00a0they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful,\u00a0and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.<\/i><\/p>\n
The disabled beggar saw Peter and John and asked them for money, no different than he had asked countless people.\u00a0 Likely we have all been guilty of seeing someone who is begging for help.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t have the time, the inclination or the money they seek, we often look away.\u00a0 People who are begging are looking for eye contact.\u00a0 If their eyes catch our eyes looking at them, they will straight away ask us for help.\u00a0 They are familiar with rejection and when they ask for help they know they may not get it.\u00a0 Their eyes are always scanning, looking for the next person who may help.\u00a0 This beggar was no different.\u00a0 His eyes were looking about to catch the look of another person.\u00a0 Peter was having none of that and told him to look at them and the man did.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s consider something.\u00a0 This man was daily carried to the same spot to beg (V2<\/b>).\u00a0 Every day the man was placed there to beg.\u00a0\u00a0 This had been happening for over forty years (V22<\/b>).\u00a0 When first brought to beg had he been embarrassed?\u00a0 Did he feel hopeless about his situation and resigned himself to the thought that this would be his lot for his whole life, fully dependent on people to carry him to the spot and for people to be kind enough to give him some money?\u00a0 Had he received the relief of acceptance about his situation?\u00a0 In our day and age, we know that many people just refuse to work and choose to beg.\u00a0 It can draw our ire or disgust and it is easy to become distant to their needs.\u00a0 What was this man thinking about his life after ten years of begging?\u00a0 How about after twenty or thirty years.\u00a0 To add to his situation, he had likely seen Jesus come by him to the temple.\u00a0 He would have, if he was able to past the crowds surrounding Jesus, called out to him for help.\u00a0 But it seemed to him that the one that he had heard many calling the Messiah was not stopping to help him.\u00a0 The beggar heard of Jesus healing countless people but Jesus did not heal him.\u00a0 The fact the Jesus did not heal him, that the Messiah did not heal him, did that make him feel all the more hopeless?\u00a0 It would\u2019ve been hard for those who daily walked by this man to know that this man was strong, that he didn\u2019t give up.\u00a0 He was born into a situation that he did nothing to bring about.\u00a0 He likely wondered if God had abandoned him, or perhaps never loved him.\u00a0 Or perhaps he had great faith in God and was grateful for the blessings that people gave to him so that he could eat and have a roof to sleep under.\u00a0 Perhaps he did not count his hardships but rather thanked God for his blessings.\u00a0 If so, wow!<\/p>\n
Jesus had not healed the man.\u00a0 Jesus could have.\u00a0 We know that Jesus, being the Son of God was aware of him, so why not heal this man?\u00a0 The world, and even those who love the Lord sometimes question the actions of God.\u00a0 As if we have a thimble full of the knowledge and wisdom of God.\u00a0 Family, who are we, as God made plain to Job, to question God.\u00a0 We think too much of ourselves and too little of God.\u00a0 We have no reason in any occasion to question the goodness and love of God.\u00a0 Jesus had a reason for not healing this man.\u00a0 This man was going to be used to further jumpstart the mission of Jesus through His Apostles.\u00a0 If Jesus had healed this many, the man would probably have been one of the anonymous thousands that Jesus had healed.\u00a0 But this man was appointed to be used to make people realize that the power of God working through the Apostles was not a one-and-done occasion.\u00a0 God used this man to heal a congenital defect, thereby showing that these Apostles were of God. Jesus knew how exuberantly joyful this man would be that he was healed.\u00a0 That he would jump and dance and shout that he was healed. That he would be a very excited and boisterous witness.\u00a0 Jesus had a personal plan for this man (Jeremiah 29:11<\/b>).<\/p>\n
What a perfect opportunity to point people to Jesus!\u00a0 Peter could have prayed quietly for the man and then just told him to walk.\u00a0 However, what Peter said was\u00a0\u201cIn the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Peter and John, led by the Holy Spirit of God, had an appointment with this man.\u00a0 An appointment to let this man know that God has not forgotten him, that God did love and care about him, and to prove it to him and to all others, God would heal him. \u00a0All the doubts and hurts of that man faded away at the touch of God\u2019s hand upon Him.\u00a0 The man proudly and boldly began praising God!\u00a0 He did it among the temple crowds.\u00a0 He wanted everyone to know what God had done for him!<\/p>\n
Family, this is a very encouraging event.\u00a0 Not just a story in the Bible, but an actual event.\u00a0 When we are experiencing hard times that seem to be driving us into a very hard ground, we must never doubt God. He knows the future and we do not.\u00a0 We never want to do as God inquired of Job\u00a0\u201cWould you discredit my justice?\u00a0 Would you condemn me to justify yourself?\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(Job 40:8<\/b>).\u00a0 Family being human is not a reason to doubt.\u00a0 Being human is the best reason to not doubt God but to, in our weakness, depend on Him because of our weakness.\u00a0 It makes no sense to distance ourselves from our sole hope. \u00a0Does a man dying of thirst run from cool water that would save him?\u00a0 Who are we to question God?\u00a0 To question God is to impugn the essence of who He is.\u00a0 It is a devastating thing to lose faith in God just before the arrival of the victory that He has planned for us.\u00a0 It leaves us to mourn the fact that our faith and knowledge of God fell short.\u00a0 Our humanity is no excuse.\u00a0 Being human, let\u2019s trust in God.\u00a0 The deeper the water and the hotter the flames means all the more that we need to trust God.\u00a0 Anything else is, well, foolishness.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not have regrets but have complete faith in God because we know that He is the only God and that He is good all the time and that He loves us.\u00a0 Family, never give up on God!\u00a0\u00a0 He has a plan and His plan for us comes from depths of wisdom and breadth of knowledge that we cannot begin to fathom.\u00a0 Trust God!\u00a0 The healed man would tell us not to look at his hardship, but at his healing.\u00a0 Job would tell us to not look at his troubles but at God\u2019s faithfulness.\u00a0 That is the point of the story.\u00a0 God is faithful.\u00a0 God is good and He loves us.\u00a0 Praise our good and loving God!\u00a0 Praise Him at all times and forever!<\/p>\n
Peter and John had a divine appointment with the man and when they saw what God had brought them to they did not shrink back, but obeyed the leading of the Lord.\u00a0 So the man received his healing from God, God was glorified, and witness of God using this miracle to show that that the Apostles were His was openly displayed\u00a0 We all have God ordained appointments to be used as the hand of God that lives would be save and God would be glorified (Ephesians 2:10<\/b>).\u00a0 As God used Peter and John, He has plans to us.\u00a0 How wonderful is that!\u00a0 Praise God! Praise God!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 3:3-10\u00a0\u2013\u00a0When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.4\u00a0Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, \u201cLook at us!\u201d\u00a05\u00a0So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.\u00a0 6\u00a0Then Peter said, \u201cSilver or gold I do not have, but what I do have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,99,94,17],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-jeremiah","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1331,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions\/1331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}