Devotional Thoughts  from Mark 3:1-6……                          

The Pharisees watched the Lord on Sabbath days like a hawk watching its prey. This man at the synagogue who had the useless hand was quite obvious and they wondered what He would do with him….

Jesus knew this, and He didn’t hide what He was going to do. He told the man to stand up in full view of everyone and then asked if it was lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath Day or not . They refused to answer His question, and it pained Him immensely to see how hard they were.

This is one of the occasions when we read that our Lord was angry with people and grieved with their refusal of His blessings. But in spite of this He told the man to stretch out his useless hand, and immediately it was healed and became like the other one. How glad this man must have been! What a difference it made to his whole life and livelihood!

The Pharisees were not pleased at all. They immediately began to plot how they could get rid of Him. The challenge for us is…do we rejoice at others’ good fortune or do we remain sour faced and hard?

The man stood there with hand so dead,                                                                     “Stretch it  out” the Saviour said,                                                                              As he obeyed it became whole, Healed and useful, a different soul!

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