Mark 3:1-5 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.… You say, "I have no faith." We answer, "Believe, and faith is yours." Does it seem a paradox. But paradoxes are often great truths, and are only hard to us because they come to us from a higher region, where our poor logic is of small account. But how many analogies there are of this paradox of faith even in the lower spheres of life! How often is the ability to perform an act, not merely revealed, but actually developed or even created by the very effort to accomplish it! How many works exist today as monuments of genius which never would have existed if their authors had waited till they had the necessary power. So it is in the matter of salvation. You can never have it till you take it. You will never have the gift of faith until you believe. Your will is all God waits for. He speaks by His prophet thus: "Hear, ye deaf, that ye may hear; and look, ye blind, that ye may see." And by His incarnate Son He says to every impotent soul, "Stretch forth thine hand!" (S. S. Bosward.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.WEB: He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. |
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