Edit: I had this article already written and set to publish. I went to church on Weds and the preacher exhorted right down this same line! So, maybe God was trying to tell me something… 🤔
I love it when He confirms His Word!! It’s so special when that happens!!
The other day, I was listening to a preacher preach on the Holiness Preaching Online through the Apple podcast…(if you don’t have it, I highly recommend it!) He was preaching on “He can’t heal it if you hide it!”. Man, was that a message!
I really struck a chord with me! I know I touched on this specific Bible story a while back during our study on bitterness but I think it bears repeating. This is something we are dealing with on a daily basis in our churches!
We are so often like that man with the withered hand in the book of Mark where the minister took his text. We come to church and we try to hide away our “withered hand”— whether it be bitterness, old wounds of unforgiveness, problems in our home, problems with other people, issues in our own hearts, hurts, grudges, oughts, whatever it may be… Just like Jesus told that man that day in the synagogue—“Stretch forth thy hand!”, He is saying the same thing to us—“stretch forth thy withered hand!”
The man with the withered hand had a choice—He could have refused to comply with Jesus’ command and continued to hide away his disability/handicap forever. He could have even got mad at Jesus for singling him out in front of everyone and making him show others his weakness…. (I know some of us might have reacted that way!) or as he actually did do, he could have humbled himself and stretched out his problem to Jesus!
If you read the passage here about this man, it was evident that other people already knew about his problem. From the text, it appears that the religious leaders were almost using this man with the withered hand (unwittingly) as "bait" to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath. That clues us in that the man’s problem wasn’t exactly a secret. Yet, in our story, the man continued to hide his issue away…until the Lord stopped by that day!! His humility and obedience to the Lord’s command to stretch it forth allowed him to receive a true healing!
I don’t know if the man realized that everyone already knew about his problem, but like I said from our text, it appears that most of them did know. I find it ironic that a lot of times, you and I think we are hiding our “withered hand” from everyone else, but sometimes, the only person we are fooling is our own self. It is obvious something is wrong to everyone around us, all the while, we are saying… No, we are good. We are fine. There is no problem! (all the while hiding away our “hand” aka problems)— to keep people from “seeing” our handicap— We don’t want people to see our hurt, our pain, our problems. We want to “appear” to be like everyone else.
The preacher I was listening to didn't really elaborate on the "withered hand" itself, his focus was primarily on not hiding things from everyone and especially God. He was preaching on getting the trouble fixed. But as I listened to his message, my mind got to spinning and it made me curious to study the topic out more for myself, so without further ado, let's jump in...
In the story of our man with the withered hand, (although the encounter is recorded in several of the Gospels) Luke, a physician, is the only writer to point out it was the man’s right hand. As a doctor, Luke often gives us those extra little details that stuck out to him particularly as relevant or significant. In the Jewish culture, the right hand was a symbol of power and strength. It was used for greetings and to bestow blessing. It was a symbol of authority and might. However, in our text, here is a man whose "right hand" is paralyzed. He is without strength. He is without might. He is without power. He is without authority. From that standpoint, he is utterly, completely, and totally disabled.
Not only symbolically, but in Jewish/middle eastern culture, the right hand of a man was considered his “clean hand”. Not only did a good Jew always eat with his right hand but also, his right hand carried out all the major tasks that he needed to accomplish. Not to be too graphic, but the left hand was considered the “unclean hand” as it was delegated to perform “unclean” duties such cleaning up after using the restroom, etc.
Like I said earlier, the gospel of Luke is quick to point out that it was the right hand of this man that was withered—his source of dignity and strength. The vast majority of people (especially in that time) were right handed. Throughout the Bible, there are reference after references referring to the right hand in different capacities— we see :
The right hand of power —Exodus 15:6
Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
The right hand of strength—Psalm 18:35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Psalm 20:6 —Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
The right hand of righteousness—Psalm 48:10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
The right hand of victory—Psalm 98:1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
The right hand of prominence (importance/place of position)—Acts 7:56
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
The right hand of fellowship—Galatians 2:9
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen…
just to name a few…
We know in early civilization, equipment and technological advances were nowhere near what we have today. What we rely on machines and heavy equipment to do for us today, all had to be done manually by hand way back when. Having both hands whole and in working order was very important.
Think about this: Tie one hand behind your back. How hard would simple everyday tasks become? In today’s world, we have conveniences and modern technology to assist us to live life to its fullest even with a handicap. But in Bible times, a handicap like this would have not only crippled our man physically, but it also caused him to be handicapped emotionally and psychologically. It would have been a crushing blow to his livelihood and would have greatly affected his family as well. Perhaps he had been employed as a stone mason or as a carpenter and he had been injured on the job. Maybe he was a business owner or ran the local market… whatever his previous occupation was, once he had became injured, his ability to work and provide for his family was greatly reduced. Most “jobs” in that time required two “whole” hands in which to work with. Manual labor was hard and took a lot of strength and effort…because of this, in Biblical times, most handicapped people were forced into the life of a beggar and relying on the mercies of others.
I don’t read where this man was a beggar yet though. Perhaps his injury was more recent. But no matter how it happened or when, the fact that something caused his hand to wither, or shrink, meant he had lost the ability to work at his profession or at most other jobs, for that matter.
BUT THEN JESUS….
Don’t you just love that phrase???
But then Jesus …called him forward.
We know he must have been self conscious about his disability, because when Jesus called for him to come stand in the midst, he also had to ask the man to stretch forth his hand… which implies that perhaps he kept it hidden (in the folds of his garment or in a pocket). We can imagine that, on this Sabbath in the synagogue, he sits in the back so as not to be especially noticed. His hand was withered. That word “withered” is a descriptive adjective. It describes what happens to a plant when it dies or to a branch when it is cut off. It becomes lifeless. That is what has happened to the hand of this man. His hand was shriveled, lifeless, hanging at his side.
The Bible doesnt refer to him by his given name. He is simply called “ the man with a withered hand”. It must have been how he was known in town after his injury, the man with a withered hand. It had become his distinguishing feature now. It was the way people referred to him. For him, probably, this impediment, this disability, was quite embarrassing, yet he was powerless to do ANYTHING about it.
There is also something really significant about this particular miracle that stuck out to me — The great thing about this miracle that separates it from other miracles is that no request for healing had been made. The man did not come up to Jesus and ask for a healing. No one in his family intreated the Master on his behalf.
Oh no! Jesus just saw him hidden among the other “church people”. Immediately, Jesus identified his “hidden” problem, a withered hand.
Isn’t it amazing to realize that Jesus notices things? He is aware of what is going on everywhere, even in our daily life. Even the stuff we don’t even bring to His attention, He knows and cares about!
“Stretch forth thine hand.”
And we read that when the man obeyed the Lord’s command, his withered hand was immediately restored whole, just as the other. We know from our context, this man could NOT stretch forth his hand. This man’s hand was lifeless and withered. And yet, at the directive of Jesus, the man DID stretch forth his hand. This story illustrates the power in the word of Jesus!
The man didn’t say, “Jesus, you know I can’t stretch out my hand.” No, he simply took the Lord at His Word and because of his obedience, God gave him the strength to stretch forth that hand to receive his healing.
Notice that Jesus did not say, “Stretch out thy arm,” but he identified the problem directly as He said “stretch forth thine hand.” Jesus went straight to the place where the problem was.
The Bible doesn’t mention this man’s arm being affected by this paralysis, but you can imagine that the arm had become weakened because the man could not use his hand; so, by default, his arm probably was being used very little as well. More than likely, the arm and other parts of this man’s body was getting weaker and weaker every day because of the “withered hand.”
It was Charles Spurgeon who once described this man’s handicap by saying, "This was not a sham disease. He had not made a pretense of being paralyzed, but he was clearly incapable!"
We do not know how long this man had been in this condition, all we know that he is disabled; his strength is gone. You can imagine just how troubled this man was about his condition.
In our story, this man came to the “church” just like he had many times before. ( At least, he kept coming to church where he could receive his help—his healing! He was in the right place!) But something was different this time! Jesus was in the house! And not only was Jesus in attendance, Jesus noticed this man, and then spoke directly to him.
Like I said, Jesus called for him to “stand forth in the midst.” As we look at this passage of Scripture, it seems that obeying this command of Jesus will embarrass this man. Jesus knows his condition. This action will put his handicap on full display in front of a congregation of people. Why would Jesus call him out and have him stand up in the front of those people?”
The answer: BEFORE THIS MAN COULD BE HEALED, HE HAD TO RECOGNIZE HIS NEED FOR HEALING! When this man with the “withered hand” stood up in front of everyone that day - it spoke of the fact that he could not overcome his condition by himself. He needed help. And in order to receive help - he had to see his need for help.
In this story, we are not told that this man ever asked Jesus about anything or for anything. (He could have asked Jesus to heal his “withered hand”, but it is not recorded in any of the 3 gospels.) This man simply did what he was told to do by the Lord. But initially, this man never verbally asked the Lord for His healing on his own.
You can imagine that this man was embarrassed about his hand being ‘withered’; being shriveled up to basically nothing. He could not move his hand. His arm was weak and getting weaker. He could not hide his condition, so we know that everyone who had seen this man knew what his condition was.
When Jesus told the man to rise up and stand in the middle of everyone , I believe that the Lord was helping him remove all hindrances that were before him and was helping him release his faith so that he could receive his healing.
It was humbling for this man to stand up in front of everyone and come to Jesus. But something about Jesus’ words so convinced him that he willingly obeyed; and by his outward actions, he was saying that he didn’t care what others thought or felt about him - he was going to get to Jesus and get what he needed
When the man showed his willingness to come to Jesus, Jesus became willing to heal this man. This man had no strength to lift his hand on his own. But when Jesus saw that this man with the “withered hand” was obedient to HIS word- Jesus gave him the power to help him stretch out his hand.
I can imagine this man as he stands before this crowd. He is humbled. He is ashamed. He is embarassed of his disability….Yet, Jesus wanted him to be visible so that others would see not just the man’s need, but also so they could witness the Miracle that was about to take place.
Jesus wanted the Miracle to be visible so others could see the Power of Jesus and also feel the awe and amazement when this man’s hand was made whole.
I can imagine after the miracle takes place, (or after “church” so to speak), everyone (including all his family and friends) gathering around him to see the “miracle up close!” -and marveling at this healing!
The Bible tells us that “and his hand was restored whole AS THE OTHER.” Others couldn’t even tell that the hand was ever withered.
WHEN THE MAN PROVED HIS FAITH IN THE LORD – THE LORD PROVIDED HIS POWER!
Now, let’s examine our own lives!
Is our life (spiritually speaking) withering away? Are there some of us that used to work for the Lord in a greater capacity, but now have become injured and unusable for HIS work? Could our spiritual life be a like that man with a withered hand? Do we have “a life that withering away”??
Often, we blame the people around us. We have blamed our problems; we have blamed our circumstances for the reason why our spiritual life is withering away.
But the reality of the matter is this:
OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE IS PARALYZED!
1. The Withered Hand of Prayer.
It is possible for our “Hand of Prayer” to become handicapped.
1 Timothy 2:8- “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, LIFTING UP HOLY HANDS without wrath and doubting.”
The “hand of prayer” is exemplified by those people living lives that are holy and clean. How is your hand of prayer doing ? Is there something standing between you and the Lord? Are your prayers being hindered? Is there stuff in your heart that you need to allow the Lord to heal so your prayers can be once again become effective? (And heard by God!)
2. The Withered Hand of Service
It is possible for our Hand of Service to become disabled. Our hand of service can wither away until it has lost all of its usefulness. We can become so consumed with our own self and our own issues that we become completely unfit for the use of the Master.
In Luke 9:62, Jesus states- “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Have we lost our zeal that we once had in our service for the Lord? Perhaps we are more concerned with the things of this world than we are with the world to come. Serving God by serving others is the crucible of the Christian walk. If we find our hand of service is becoming atrophied, we really need to examine our heart! A withered “hand of service” is a symptom of a withered heart in a Christian!
The Broken Hand of Fellowship
It is possible for our Hand of Fellowship to become broken. Has your desire to be around other Christians disappeared? Do you dread church or church fellowships? Perhaps you have allowed things to come between you and your Church, and because of this, being around God’s people is not as important as it use to be. Stretch forth that hand! God wants to restore that spirit of unity and camaraderie in our churches! We NEED each other!!
The Shriveled Hand of Life
It is possible for our Hand of Life to become shriveled. Ask yourself:
Do you feel that life has been become unfair to you ? Have you made wrong choices that have caused your life to take an unexpected turn? Is your life is in shambles? Do you feel worthless? Or like your existence doesn’t really matter to anyone? Do you feel like your life is slowly but surely withering away?
Don’t despair if you find yourself with one or more of the above “withered hands”. Ever heard that old saying, “You got to recognize you need help, before you can ever receive help! Before He can ever help us, He wants us to see our need for Him, just like the man with the withered hand. Jesus is not here to embarrass us or to expose us publicly. He wants to help us with our problems but He also wants us to realize our REAL need is for Him. Often, the need is too great for us! We can’t fix these kinds of problems on our own! We need supernatural power!
Jesus wants us to obey what He tells us to do. When we listen to Him and obey Him, He will help us and see us through whatever situation we are in. You may be wondering what others will say if you step out and try to “get to Jesus”.
That’s the thing, We have to get over what others will say about us. It makes no difference if they know our condition or if they don’t even know what we are going through. What we need to do is listen to what the Lord has to say to us and just do it. (Take Him at His Word!— He can be trusted!)
JESUS IS THE CURE TO A WITHERING LIFE!
What is your disability? Do you have a “withered hand?” Do you have a “withered heart?” Do you have a “withered hope?” Do you have a “withered home?” Do you have “withered health?”
You may be surprised at what Jesus can do and will for you. Just bring Him the broken, withering pieces of your life and watch Him put them back together again; right before your very eyes. It may take Him some time to do it, (or it may be instantaneous! However He wants to do it!) but He will fit every piece of your life back in its proper place.
The funny thing is a lot of times, there are many of us —all with withered hands and we all are trying to keep up appearances and go through the motions. We may be able to hide it from people on this side, but we will never be able to hide it from God.
We shouldn’t even TRY to hide it from God!
God is the Great Physician! He can heal anything! He can heal old wounds! He can heal fresh hurts! He can make things as if they never happened! Or even better!!
But in order for the miracle to occur, we must be willing to stretch forth our problems/weaknesses to the Lord when He calls for us! We must humble ourselves once again and allow the cleansing flood from Calvary to wash away our hurts, our pain, and our wrong feelings. Jesus is still the CURE for withered hands, withered hearts, withered hopes, withered homes, and withered lives!
Can you hear His call? Stretch forth thy hand today….You will be amazed at the miracle God can wrought if we will just take Him at His Word and stretch forth our own “withered hands” to receive His healing!
From my heart to yours,
-Tiphanie ❤️
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