Unsolicited Miracles

“And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” (Ac 3:2-6 AV)

What strikes me about this account was the lame man received a miracle for which he did not seek nor ask for.  He was content to beg at the gate of the temple.  He did not seek a miracle from Peter or John.  Perhaps he had heard that Jesus was crucified, risen, and gone and saw no need to shout out as others, hoping to catch the attention of the Savior.  Or, perhaps he was lame his entire life and had gotten used to his situation.  Whatever the cause, when Peter and John required that he look at them, he was expecting alms, not healing.

Understand, there is no fault finding here.  Had the beggar not received the miracle from Peter and John, spiritually speaking, nothing would have changed.  We know he has faith by his reaction to the command of Peter.  Peter tells this lame man to rise in the name of Jesus Christ.  If the beggar had not faith, he wouldn’t have attempted to rise.  The rising was his manifestation of faith.  Opportunity was not the issue either.  This beggar was in the right place at the right time.  This wasn’t by chance.  In his wisdom, the beggar was in the best possible place to receive God’s grace.  He was at the temple where it was far more likely the LORD might pass by or one of His Apostles might pass by.  There was no better place to be than where he was and at the time he was there.  He was there at the feast of tabernacles.  All of Israel was to assemble.  The likelihood someone who could change his situation would also be in attendance was very high.  This is not about being in the right place at the right time.  This is not even about faith.  What the Spirit is trying to tell us that is that God does work, even when we are not necessarily asking for it.  Miracles happen all the time.

Yes, the LORD and His apostles have taught us that we have not because we ask not.  Prayer is essential in seeing God work.  But it is not necessary all the time.  What we need to consider is expectation.  Again, we are not fault finding with the lame beggar.  There is no fault to be found.  What we are doing is using his life’s experience as and encouragement to see the possibilities of God’s hand.  The beggar came to the temple just as he did every other day.  It was no different.  In his mind, he would spend the greater part of the day receiving alms and then going home to survive on those gifts; only to expect to return the next day and do it all over again.  We are not suggesting we be presumptuous on the grace of God and make plans as though miracles are a certainty.  But we can be optimistic that miracles do happen and they just might happen today.  If not, we are not out anything.  Life goes on with God’s grace to endure.  Yet, what is the harm in thinking the LORD just might change our course today?  The lame beggar still had to continue his begging.  We are not suggesting remaining idle waiting for a miracle.  What we do see here is that God can, and does, work in great ways even when we are not expecting it.