Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
Beloved, I am neither massaging your emotions nor telling
you stories because I have nothing to do. I am sharing you with you what God
wants you to know so that you can turn the seemingly dead or impossible
situation around. God wants to intervene in your personal life as well as your
nation. But you must do something by rising up to what God wants you to do. How
He wants you to act to regain your freedom may be entirely different from mine
but He wants to intervene in your situation. Besides, your situation differs
from mine just as that of your nation differs from mine.
The lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple was
lame from birth; had grown into a man who could not fend for himself. In point
of fact, he could in no way help himself as he had to be carried, probably on a
daily basis to the gate of the temple, referred to as Beautiful where he daily
asked for alms from those who entered the temple. A down trodden man at a
beautiful gate; life can be quite ironical. What could be more indignifying,
possibly hopeless! After all, he had been that way from birth and as far as he
was concerned; that was probably his lot in life. So why not cope with it and stick
to begging for alms.
But unknown to him, God had a different plan for
him; a plan that would save him the daily embarrassment of being an
inconvenience to people around him. Also, quite fortunately for him, he was at
the gate when God came visiting in the form of Peter and John who were about to
go into the temples. Significantly and quite instructive, the lame man asked
for the usual pittance he got as alms. Please forgive the choice of the word
pittance as I am only being realistic. This is because if he got anything
substantial, he would not be there on a daily basis. How do I know he was there
on a daily basis? Everyone who came to the temple knew him because at one time
or the other he had stretched out his hands for alms. But God had something greater
than alms for him on that day.
