Wednesday: The Power of Quick Recovery
WEEK 21
WEDNESDAY
THE POWER OF QUICK RECOVERY
Hebrews 12:12-15
We pause another day to meditate on the mastery in a movement that makes it profit by its mistakes and sins. That really is a test of mastery. If that power of quick recovery is absent, the movement is vulnerable and lacks stability and power of continuance.
I say “quick recovery” for, if the recovery is slow, it shows a lack of healthy rebound. The recoveries in the Acts were immediate. After the downfall of Ananias and Sapphira: “Trepidation and dread seized the whole church and all who heard what had happened. . . . No one from outside the church dared to join them, even though the people spoke highly of them. Indeed more and more believers in the Lord, large numbers of both men and women, were added to the church” (Acts 5:11-14). A strange passage: “No one from outside the church dared to join them. . . . more and more believers . . . were added to the church.” A contradiction? No, the people had a double shock: the shock of unfaithfulness in a faithful society and fear at what happened through that unfaithfulness—the death of the unfaithful. So for a moment they didn’t dare join them. But only for a moment, for they soon saw that this society could and did recover from that unfaithfulness, it was essentially sound. And it was essentially loving, for the people recognized that Ananias and Sapphira weren’t killed by a stroke of divine wrath, but died of their own inner moral shock. So the people, seeing this power of amazing recovery, pressed into the society more than ever.
And the “quick recovery” was seen in the other incident of imperfection—the “intense” argument between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark. The account says, “Their argument became so intense that they went their separate ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and left. . . . He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:39-41). Barnabas went on with his extended missionary work, and Paul went on with the business of “strengthening the churches.” A weakened person can’t strengthen others. Both of them recovered quickly and began anew the work of recovery. The movement was sound, essentially and fundamentally, in spite of missteps.
O Lord, give me this power to rebound into health and victory when I receive wounds from either my own mistakes or the mistakes of others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My soundness will be gauged by the quickness of my power of recovery. It should be instant.