Acts 14: 8-10 “In Lystra there was a crippled man who had been lame since birth and had never been able to walk. He sat there and listened to Paul’s word. Paul saw that he believed and could be healed, so he looked straight at him and said in a loud voice,”Stand up straight on your feet !” The man jumped up and started walking around.”
In about 47 AD in Iconium (present day Turkey) Paul and Barnabas were preaching for several months mostly in the Jewish synagogues. When some Jews and gentiles decided to stone them, they left and went to the city of Lystra (also in Turkey).
As a Nurse, my first reaction to the verses quoted above was unbelief. How could a man who hadn’t ever walked since birth suddenly stand up and start walking ? Clinically it sounds impossible! His legs would be too weak for him to walk; his leg muscles would be atrophied and probably contracted from lack of use. But there it is –“The man jumped up and started walking around”!
Why do I find this so hard to believe? Can’t God do anything? Doesn’t He/She in fact do miraculous things every day? I plant what look like dried dead seeds, and God brings out a beautiful green plant or a gorgeous colorful flower. Is that not a miracle?
Babies are born every day. They develop into unique human beings unlike any other person in the entire world. Is that not also a miracle? Why do I have so much trouble believing that God can do what seems impossible to my logical mind?
“I do believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
Ann Sieracki, EfM Graduate & Mentor
