TAKE HIS HAND

Wednesday: 15th April, 2020

Reference: Acts 3:1-10

Acts 3:2 And a man who was lame from birth was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex.

The man in today’s text gets more than he expected because while lying at the beautiful gate of the temple begging for alms, he receives healing instead. That is a highlight worth cheering about but something else plays on my mind: ‘the fact that this man, who was lame and had no strength in both legs, somehow managed to get to the entrance of the temple everyday’.

His transportation did not happen unaided, ‘he was carried there by others everyday’. On the basis of that statement alone, a number of questions arise: ‘did he want to be carried there or were his bearers taking advantage of his weakness to get him where they wanted? Was he being exploited? Who chose the spot for his trade – himself or his bearers? Did he expect to ever change locations? What went through his mind on a daily basis? At this point, I stopped asking the questions and began searching for answers.

Unfortunately, I found no answers to any of those questions but noted also that this man lay at the very entrance to the court of the temple. He was placed within a few yards of the place of worship yet his daily intention was to beg for alms. Sweetheart, there ought to arise moments when our thought paradigm and expectations ought to shift dramatically. Moments when our environment ought to inspire us to desire to move on and out of a particular status quo.

We may have been carried or led to a place because our weaknesses did not allow us to stand tall and walk away. But like the encounter of the lame man with Peter and John, so does the arrival of Jesus strengthen feeble limbs. He provides the strength so rise up even after a collapse to walk away renewed. My dear, all you have to do is take hold of his outstretched hand.

#sly