stretch out your hand

“Stretch out your hand.” (Mark 3:5) 

It is what you told the man in the synagogue, and it is what you tell me.  But what does that mean, Lord Jesus?  What are you really asking of me?  Are you asking me for the courage to be vulnerable and weak and powerless, so that your power might be on full display?  Are you asking me to trust in your goodness and mercy, even when it demands that I do something that is impossible unless you give me the strength?  Are you asking me to have faith in your desire, and ability, to transform the parts of my life that are twisted and distorted and not at all what you intended them to be?  Or are you simply asking me to obey, whether I understand what you are up to or not?

Whatever the case, Lord Jesus, it is what you ask me to do: "Stretch out your hand.”  Give me the wisdom know exactly what that means, and the strength and the courage and the grace necessary to be able to do it.