Well, it seems I'm having the same struggle with Proverbs some others here have talked about ~ there's just too much wisdom to cover in one post! I bet you could do a year-long, in-depth study of the book and still not grasp everything it contains! So today's chapters are no exceptions, but one verse did really stand out.
I always notice the quarrelsome and nagging wife verses, of course, because they specifically advise me in my role as a wife, but this time I also noticed a verse that very closely resembles the "a wife of noble character who can find?" question that kicks off the Proverbs 31 Lady passage at the end of the book. Only this verse refers to men:
Many a man claims to have unfailing love,
but a faithful man who can find? (20:6)
Obviously, this verse could ~ and probably was intended to ~ apply to either sex, but it's certainly one that I want to keep in mind for when my daughters start dating and thinking about marriage!! ;) (which isn't going to be AT LEAST another 20 years if their dad can help it!) In any case, it seems faithful men are equally as rare as women of noble character, and as such, both are highly valued.
Anyway, movin' right along to Acts...
I love how Peter carries on Jesus' fine tradition of performing miracles as a method of opening up a platform for discussing spiritual truths. Here, he and John encounter a crippled beggar sitting at a temple gate. This man had been crippled from birth and year after year, someone had carried him to the temple to beg because he couldn't earn a living. His eyes are downcast. All day long, he calls out for money and possibly food, but he never actually looks at people. Maybe he's tired of seeing people try to avoid his gaze or pretend they haven't heard him. I imagine he's ashamed, but helpless.
I think it's so beautiful that the apostles stop directly in front of him and Peter tells him to look up, to look AT them. This gives the beggar hope and he looks expectantly up into Peter's face only to hear these men have no money. I imagine the beggar's gaze drops and his heart sinks as he hears those words. I imagine he begins to close off his mind again, to shut out the unpleasantness of his situation, but just before he stops listening altogether, he hears the words, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, WALK." I bet it didn't even register at first, but suddenly he feels Peter's hand on his arm, pulling him to his feet. What if this is the first physical touch from a non-family member this man has felt since his birth?? And then, even more amazing, it actually WORKS to pull him to his feet, and then there is just no stopping this man! We don't know how old he was, but there was obviously a good many years of running, jumping, and dancing stored up that began to overflow!!
And then, just like Jesus, Peter addresses the astonished, amazed masses there at the temple and gets the opportunity to tell them all about Jesus and His Gospel message. It'll get them into trouble, as we'll see in the next chapter, but even in the hardship that follows, EVERY opportunity to spread the Word is exploited to its full potential.
Only a few chapters ago, Peter was the man we can all identify with, humiliated by his failures, but here he begins to become the bold, faithful "fisher of men" we all want to be.
How is our bait and tackle today ~ is it ready and well-used, or a little rusty and forgotten? I hope this time in Acts will refresh us and inspire us to get into the habit of taking every opportunity to use our rods and reels!
Tomorrow's passages: Proverbs 22-24; Acts 4:1-22.
4 comments:
What caught me about the healing of the lame man, was that this man had the strength to run and jump and dance, although he had never done such in his entire life! God just didn't give him the ability to walk, he also gave him the strength to walk, jump and dance. After having been lame for so long his muscles would have been terribly atrophied and would not have the strength to even hold the man up. God's healing is complete. It just doesn't get him to the ability, it takes him beyond that. How cool is that?
VERY cool! That's kind of how I always feel about Jesus raising Lazarus. I mean, the man had started to DECAY already, and yet he came from the grave live, healthy and whole!!
Great point Kathryn.
I totally had not noticed that verse in Proverbs - thanks for pointing it out!
Great reminder for us to always be ready with our reels and tackles!
I didn't pick out that verse in Proverbs either but I am glad you highlighted it. This verse did stand out:
A foolish son is ruin to his father,
and(W) a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.
I noticed in our raspberry bushes yesterday that one of the branches is totally bent over into a "U" shape. It looks bizarre. The only thing I can think of that caused it to bend over like that is the continues dripping of water from the gutter because this bush happens to be right under a hole. You wouldn't think that dripping water can create such a deep impact but it did. One way you can look at this is that "a wife's quarrelling" will bend and shape their husband to an unnatural state. The other way is to think of the tiny drops of witnessing that we share and how those many little drops can be bending and changing someone's heart in a way they never imagined.
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