June 21

Luke 5:17-26 (Click to see scripture)

Bible in One Year Passages:

Journal Entry

Scripture

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. [1] 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

Observation

The men who took their paralytic friend to Jesus exhibited faith on many levels. They believed that Jesus *could* heal their friend and thus made the attempt to get him healed. They also believed that Jesus *would* heal their friend and took the trouble to present their paralyzed friend to Him, regardless of the circumstances that would block them from doing so. The act was an act of tremendous physical exertion as raising someone to the roof of a house and then literally digging through that same roof to the occupants inside was not an easy task but they would not be swayed.

Application

It is needless to say that we lack faith at times. Sometimes we think our troubles are so troubling that even God Himself could not help us out. But we should take heart, just like the friends of the paralyzed man, that God is able to work miracles in our lives. The second obstacle would be actually putting ourselves in a position to receive the miracles God has in store for us. The Bible shows many instances of Jesus randomly picking someone from the crowd and heal him. But the Bible also shows numerous instances of people who show extraordinary faith and, like the friends in this passage, go to extraordinary lengths to see God work in their lives. We should not be afraid to have a faith powerful enough to cause us to exert ourselves, endeavoring to see the blessings of God in all that we do. Our faith will surely be rewarded.

Prayer

Lord, please let me have the faith to move mountains in all that I do as it is all for your glory.

--Charlie Jang