“If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (Acts 4:9-10).

The controversy over the healing of the crippled man continued. There was persistent religious resistance to the Name of Jesus. Jesus had been crucified because He threatened the power and traditions of the religious leaders. Now, through His disciples, He was troubling them again.

Peter answered the religious opposition by pointing out something about God that still encourages us. God reverses circumstances! To a man who had been crippled all his life God rendered a fresh verdict. The crippled man was made healthy.

The most important reversal, however, was that God overturned man’s verdict against His Son, Jesus. A human court sentenced Jesus to death and executed Him. God overruled that decision and raised Jesus from the dead.

It doesn’t matter how long we’ve suffered from some affliction or adversity. The crippled man had suffered for forty years yet God intervened and healed him.. God, who reversed the verdict of death by raising Jesus from the dead, will not leave us at the mercy of men and circumstances. We’re in the hands of an all-powerful, all-loving God.