Praise God for His Mercies
The poor man who had been healed could not find expression for his joy and gratitude. He “entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.” He was not ashamed to praise God before all the people. Why should he have been? A most wonderful miracle had been performed. There was not one in that crowd that could find fault with him for praising God; their astonishment would have increased if he had not done so; they would have said that he was unworthy of the blessing of God. But if he had just cause to praise God for the use of his limbs after having been helpless for forty years, how much more reason for praising God those persons have who have always been able to walk. Two ministers met at a conference, and one told about an accident that had befallen him on his journey, which nearly cost him his life. He thought he had great reason to thank God for sparing him. The other replied, “But I have still more for which to be thankful than you have, because I came the whole distance in perfect safety, and met with no accident at all.” There is a point in this that we would do well to remember. God’s care is manifested no less in keeping us in perfect health than in healing us when we are afflicted. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22, 23.