God Works Through Us in Spite of Us - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 3:12-13a,

"Men of Israel, 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? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus."

Peter healed a lame man at the temple and a crowd began to gather in astonishment. The above is how he began what he had to say to them.

The account provides something fascinating about God to me. Peter heals a cripple and then tells the mob that gathers that it was not due to his "own power or godliness". 

It appears to me that God uses folks for his purposes to accomplish his will and his desires apart from them having arrived at a level of "power" or "godliness". While Peter had become an amazing apostle and carried within him the fullness of the Holy Spirit that led to his involvement in the miraculous, the prophetic, the production of the inspired Scriptures and the spread of the gospel, he confessed it was not him or any level of spirituality he had attained. God had done it!

I sense there may be some among us who calculate their spiritual bona fides on the basis of how God uses them. Peter's observation here should cure us all of such notions. While I certainly appreciate the faithfulness and desire of many who serve God and do amazing things for the kingdom of heaven, it is God who does it!

God uses us in our foolishness, weakness and inabilities. That God involves us at all in his purposes is just amazing and that he doesn't require a level of accomplishment in our life to be used by him is even more amazing. As I think about how God works in this way I realize he gets the glory instead of some knucklehead like me.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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