Mark 3:5 Then He (Jesus) said to the man, "Hold out your hand." So the man held out his hand, and it was restored.
In verse one of Mark 3 it tells us Jesus noticed this man as soon as He went in the synagogue. He noticed he had something wrong with him, that he had a deformed hand. Jesus notices each one of us and if there's anything wrong, or bent out of shape, He knows it and wants to put it right for us.
So He calls this man out in front of the whole crowd and commands him to hold his hand out. How embarrassing for the man! Can you imagine standing out in front of all those critical people and thinking you're going to have to expose what's wrong with you to them all. He'd probably gone around always trying to hide it. But he did what he was told. He held it out for all to see but when he did, it wasn't deformed anymore - it was restored! Jesus wasn't asking him to expose his deformity, he was asking him to show he was restored. How lovely is that.
Can you see the scene, can you see the man? He must have waved his hand in the air and shouted, "Look, look, it's restored. I'm restored" and the crowd gasping! That's what Jesus does He restores what's crippled in our lives if we'll let Him and trust Him and do what He says.
When I was a child, if you were told to hold out your hand in school it filled you with fear and dread because it meant they were going to punish you and whack you with their purpose made leather strap. It hurt a lot! But when Jesus tells us to hold out our hand, it's not to punish or embarrass us, it's so He can restore us and bless us.
Have we ever been afraid or dreaded going to God to admit our 'thing' that's all bent out of shape, our attitudes, our thinking, our diseases, our weaknesses, our relationships, our finances, anything in our lives that's got twisted or not as it should be? Don't worry He knows about them all already.
God says to us today "Bring it to Me, hold it out to Me and I'll restore it and make it whole again. I allowed My Son's hands to be held out and pierced with cruel nails so you can hold out your hands and let me restore whatever is wrong and make your life whole again and rewarding.
What a lovely, wonderful Saviour in Jesus we have. It fills me with hope not dread, it makes me want to run to Him, how about you?
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