Acts 14:8-20
New International
Version 1984 (NIV1984)
8 In Lystra there sat a
man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked
directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called
out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what
Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down
to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas
they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
13 The priest of
Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the
city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles
Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd,
shouting: 15 “Men,
why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We
are bringing you good news, telling
you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and
earth and sea and
everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all
nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left
himself without testimony: He has
shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills
your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words,
they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They
stoned Paul and
dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got
up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
As
we look at this scripture we see how the people of Lystra started worshipping
Paul and Barnabas, thinking they were gods but we need to go back to the
beginning of the story and see what really happened. Was it Paul that healed this man? No, it was Paul that recognized the faith
that this man had. Paul took the time to
look this man in the eye and to see that “he had faith to be healed”. Miracles weren’t necessarily performed to get
people to believe they were performed for people who did believe. Throughout scriptures the word “faith” is
used and Jesus would say to those who He healed , words such as, “Your faith
has made you well” (Luke 17:19) “Because of your faith your sins are forgiven.”
(Luke 7:20) and many others. It was not
because the woman touched the hem of Jesus garment that she was healed it was
because she had faith that He would heal her.
Often time’s people believe that others just don’t have enough faith to
be healed and in some cases that may very well be true. However, I tend to believe that sometimes
people are too much like Job’s friends, they try to find reasons for matters
that are not in their hands. You could
not say that Job had a lack of faith for he was stronger than any of those who
were well. He never turned from God
through his loss and illness but he certainly called upon the Lord throughout
those trials. Although His faith may have been shaken it was not destroyed and
it was because of his faith that his life was restored, this is the beautiful
picture of the faith of Job.
Sometimes
God places things in our lives that will causes our faith to be shaken but if
we hold on to Him, He will turn our sorrow into joy, just like He did for Job. Sometimes our healing comes in the form of
acceptance of what He has placed in our lives.
Our faith remains stronger than most people could imagine when we put
our full faith in letting Him helps us through our situations.
Faith
was evident in the man that got up and walked but what about those who really
didn’t have any faith in the God of our Universe. They were easily swayed to the other side
even to the point of stoning Paul and leaving him for dead. They were amazed at the miracle but they had
nothing to do with the God in whom this man’s faith rested.
Often
times we get so caught up in the things of this world that we begin to worship
things that don’t matter. We get upset
over things that are trivial. We in
essence begin to worship other things and put God on a shelf. If that is life that is lived, then when
trials come the sand will shift. Rather
than trusting God through the trial, God is blamed, people get mad at God, they
wonder why. When we cry out to God He
can look us in the eye and recognize our faith.
When we give it over to Him, He can take the situation and bring healing
to it. We may still remain in the
situation but there is healing.
I
had to wonder why Paul got up and went back in the city, that seemed a bit
crazy to me but he too was demonstrating his faith. God did not deliver him from the pain of a
stoning but He did deliver him from the fear of the people. He went back to the city to demonstrate His faithfulness
in God. He went back to care for those
such as the man that was healed, to show them that even through trials we can
experience victory and healing.
No
matter what your situation God can bring healing to your life. The way to find peace and healing is by
seeking Him with all your heart, looking Him in the eye and letting Him see
your faith in Him and Him alone.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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