God’s Power in Weakness

With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
–Acts 3:8

Let’s look at the first instance of healing in the church. Acts 3:1–2 says, “Peter and John were going up to the temple. . . . And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.”

If you were begging for money in biblical times, there was no better place than by the most direct way into the temple area. But I want to point out something about this particular beggar. He had been disabled since birth, and every day he was carried to the same gate. That means when Jesus went to the temple, He would have passed by this beggar. Why didn’t Jesus heal him? Because it is not God’s will for everybody to be healed physically and immediately.

I think about Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed in a diving accident at age seventeen. For nearly sixty years, she has used a wheelchair. Yet she has done more to lead people to Christ than most of us who stand on our feet. Through her disability, the power of Christ has been displayed. That’s what God told Paul when he asked God to remove his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). God had a different plan for Paul, and He may have a different plan for you than immediate physical healing.

Look at what God had planned for the beggar in Acts 3: “Peter said, ‘I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene–walk!’ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God” (vv. 6–8).

Notice that this miraculous healing was performed in the name of Jesus. Peter had no power to heal apart from the power of Christ. Peter did not get to choose who was healed; only Christ did. He healed the beggar in His timing for His purpose.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Purpose-Driven Healing,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.