When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Acts 3:12
Peter’s audience were devout Jews. They were at the temple to worship. They would have known the scriptures that point towards the Messiah and the signs that should accompany them, yet they are surprised at a miraculous healing and the power of the Spirit, and Peter calls it out.
I have to admit, I would probably have a similar reaction to the crowd. Biblically, I understand that nothing is impossible for God (Matt. 19:26), and theologically I have no problem affirming that God heals, sometimes miraculously, and the Spirit empowers those who believe in Jesus Christ to do amazing things in the name of Jesus for his glory. However, if I were to personally witness a miraculous healing, or something along those lines, I probably wouldn’t know what to do with it. My faith says “yes,” my personal comfort zone says “maybe.”
Perhaps this is because I come from a faith background that really didn’t address the miraculous. Maybe it’s because we live in a Western context which, as we have mentioned in previous Dailies, doesn’t observe the miraculous often. Probably, though, it’s also because we tend to want God and the things of God to be neat and understandable when all of Scripture demonstrates that’s simply not the case. And if it was, he wouldn’t be much of a God to follow.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what God has done and demonstrated about himself in order to see what he is doing now, or trust what he might do or will do in the future. Celebrate today how you have seen God show up in big ways, whether in your life, in the lives of others, or even in the pages of Scripture.
By Jessica Rust
