RECITING THE PAST

Thomas Kelly (1893-1941) Quaker educator and author wrote:
“The wellsprings of life are bubbling up anew each moment. So, when the angel is troubling the waters, it is no time to stand on the bank and recite past wonders.” (From ‘A Testament of Devotion’)

He is quoting from the gospel of John 5:1-15 concerning the lame man at the pool of Bethesda where there “lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:3-4).

I think this is a right encouragement from Kelly. For us to “recite past wonders” is also troubling to me. It’s easy to quote and remember the great saints from the past, or Abraham Lincoln, father Abraham or Abraham Heschel, or Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham, Dwight L. Moody and the wonders of the past. Where are the ‘wonders’ of today? Does the angel still trouble the waters? Is all the power and miracle no more? Did all the big stuff happen in some yesterday?

I would say they are unless we have faith as Kelly mentions, “to see wellsprings of life are bubbling up anew each moment.” Let the power of God be in our time, in our lives and in our doctrine. We need a God of today, not just yesterday.

“I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus