Jesus had many encounters with the Jews’ religious leaders, the Pharisees, over their interpretations and applications of the Mosaic law. They had replaced the commandments of God with the traditions of men. Consequently, they were far from the truth. On one occasion the Lord came upon a man with a withered hand in one of their synagogues on the Sabbath. The Pharisees, in an effort to trap Jesus as a violator of the law, asked “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?” (Matthew 12:10-13)
Jesus turned the tables on them and confounded them with a simple illustration. He related that if a man had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath day he would lift the sheep out of the pit. He then made the point that a man is better than a sheep: therefore, it is “lawful to do well on the Sabbath days”. In other words, showing mercy is always in season!
At this point Jesus turns to the man with the withered hand and says “Stretch forth thy hand.” The Scripture goes on to say that “he stretched it forth and it was restored whole, like as the other.” What a remarkable truth bound up in these four words! First, we must understand that the man could not move his hand at all. It simply hung limp at his side. Christ speaks to the man and commands him to “stretch forth thy hand,” that is, to lift it up and reach out. In response, he does so and is healed.
We are very much like the man with the withered hand. We cannot serve God as we should for, as Paul said, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good I find not” (Romans 7:18). But with every divine command that the Lord gives, He provides the divine enabling. In the incident above, Christ commanded the man to stretch for his hand, i.e. something he could not do on his own. But, as he responded to the command, the Lord provided the enabling to go with it.
So it is with us. If Christ is our Savior, then He has called us to let our light shine before men. What God calls for us to do, He provides the enabling to do it! Child of God, what task lies before you that seems too great, too difficult, too overwhelming to do? Stretch forth thy hand and glorify your Father, which is in heaven!
From the Chaplain 