I am a strange breed to many; I attend Sunday School at one church. It is a Women's class that's intimate and great fellowship between Sisters. We have been talking about Christian beliefs and circle back to walking by faith, no matter the topic. It is not too much of a rabbit trail because most of our beliefs are based on us believing something about God. After I leave Sunday School, I hurry to another church where my husband teaches Sunday School. Then we meet for worship and the teaching of the Word.
The two lessons met in my spirit today as I meditated on the subjects spoken on, prayer from Sunday School, and Mark 3 that the pastor is going through. One of the Sisters from Sunday School struggles with encountering trials. From our conversations, her biggest concern seems to be how you continue in faith as these things come.
One of the things I've practiced over the last 30 years or so is to listen to or read the verses over and over that the pastor of any given church we are going to is teaching through. This practice allows The Spirit of God to minister the truths of the passage to communicate to me, and I'm not dependent on a person feeding me. Instead, the person teaching adds seasoning to a meal I'm already participating in.
The Sister from Sunday School was put on my heart, and God offered truth from Mark 3, Genesis 1, and Matthew 14 that was put together powerfully. Mark 3 begins with Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. In this text, most pastors focus on Jesus, disabusing those who "watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him." That is a theology that needs to be understood. What is overlooked is the faith it took the man in this story to obey Jesus' command during this heated discourse.
This is where my two places of fellowship come crashing together. While Jesus is questioning those who would raise their tradition and religion above their care for their fellow human, he commands something of the man to be healed that was impossible without full faith in Jesus. Jesus commands the man, "Stretch out your hand." Jesus could have used the man as an example, that humans were more important than a day held in religious esteem, and said, 'Your hand is healed.' But in the middle of the anger over the religious zealots, he required an act of faith to be displayed right in the middle of the faithless leaders. Perhaps stretching out his hand was impossible; maybe it was embarrassing; whatever it was, it was a step of faith for the man to obey otherwise, Jesus would not have needed the man to do this. The ball was in the man's court. This is a major part of these verses.
We can go right back to the beginning, Genesis 1:3 "And God said, 'Let there be light.'" Who was He commanding obedience from when making that command? He was commanding creation's obedience. He was commanding light to come where there was none. Creation had to respond to His Word and obey. The man in Mark 3 and creation knew something many of us continue to question, The Power of God's Commands. The sad thing about us is we have the Word and life stories that offer us the knowledge that should help establish our faith in our Amazing God. The power of His Commands always has the ability to affect the desired result if we choose to walk by faith.
One more passage that will help pull this together. In Matthew 14:28, Jesus is walking toward the disciples on the water. Peter was sure it was Jesus but did not just jump into the water. He knew what we need to know, what the man with the withered hand and creation understood; if Jesus commands, he affects the desired results. Peter asked, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."
Let's stop and take that in. Here is where we live:
"Lord, if you command me to forgive, I can do as you say."
"Lord, if you tell me you give grace to the humble, then I can walk humbly."
"Lord, if you direct the joy of the Lord is my strength, then thank you for your joy and the strength I can walk in."
I can continue with commands and directives of Jesus that we should jump to do simply because they come from Him. Here is one more, "count it joy when you face various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance..." YIKES! I pray you grasp this truth. It is in obeying God's commands through His Son as the Word in Creation that Light came. That trees, animals, etc., obediently came into being. At Jesus' command as the Son of God, healing came to the man with the withered hand and so many others we can read about in Scripture. It was at Jesus' command that Peter ultimately walked on water.
It was Peter's own understanding that allowed him to sink and need to be rescued. That exemplified a choice not to trust the Lord. He put his eyes on what was around him. We do the same. We focus on the pain that a future trial will bring. We focus on the possibility of the loss we may suffer. We put our eyes on the way God may do something. What we are not doing is trusting in the simplicity of Jesus' powerful command, "Stretch out your hand." Remember, there was pressure to show faith in this moment. The man who would need to obey was facing the hostility of the men looking to accuse Jesus and perhaps kill Jesus and him as well. To stretch out his hand on the Sabbath for these religious leaders may have been to dishonor that day and, therefore, them and their "god."
Remember, in the middle of darkness, creation responded to God's command by bringing forth light where there was only darkness.
Contrary to nature, Peter says, "Lord, if that is You, command me to come to you on the water."
This, however, is not just about faith; it is more about Jesus' command. We are being asked to trust in what Jesus commands and obey all He has commanded. Peter understood he could not walk on water in his own power but at Jesus' command. Our ability to do what Jesus says is limitless when we keep our eyes on Him and know what He commands. I'm guessing when we question how we go through a trial and remain faithful to God, it is believing we are being asked to do something in our own power when it is actually a test of whether we have faith in His Word. Eyes off Jesus with Peter exemplified a lack of faith, resulting in his sinking. Would you love to live without ever sinking again? While James says, "We all stumble in many ways," we understand that we do not need to. We can trust all of Jesus' commands and find strength in His joy.
If we believe the power of Jesus' command affects the desired result, we will understand that He does not pull his command away and say, "Sike! Just kidding," His Word is His bond. Instead, we must trust that his command hints at the power he wants to execute through us. We can walk obediently like the man with the withered hand who "stretched it out, and his hand was restored."
This is how the colliding of two lessons mulls through my mind. These are the conclusions I pray will help those who wonder, like the Sister in Sunday School, "How to walk through trials with steady and even growing faith?" The answer is to understand God promises trials, gives examples of what trials are like throughout the Scriptures, and tells us how to get through trials. In these areas, commands are written out for our learning and hope. If we remember God's commands affect His desired results, His Glory, and the good of those who love Him and are called according to the His purpose, we know if He commands, we obey, we won't sink. All of us can walk away like the man with the withered hand, renewed in some area that had been withered.
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