Where are the Miracles?

Not long ago, I was trying to understand healing and miracles. I was asking myself, “What are the keys that can be derived from the Bible stories of Jesus? I did come up with some. Believing who He actually was. Faith in what He truthfully can do. I was wondering about this, because I was asking, “Are they, in fact, occurring today?” And more directly, “Why are they not occurring today?” I found no more answers. So, I moved on.

Now, I have read the Bible through and through many times. Yet, I seem to have repeatedly missed the meaning in Luke 4:25–27. That is quite normal. Understanding the Bible is a process of learning, line upon line, K through 12. Well, God seems to have brought my attention to it again today. As I was continuing my Bible reading, I recalled that there are times in Bible history spanning many years, decades, and even centuries where nothing spectacular, nothing in particular is happening. Life goes on in its natural progression. It may not be much of a revelation to others, but it is a new perspective for me. Maybe, just maybe God is focusing — or perhaps attempting to get us to focus — on something else. Maybe we should be more attentive.

So, here is Luke 4:25–27, NIV: “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian.”

This is where faith in Jesus of Nazareth might separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s not always a sunny and flowery path. Life goes on, and we must realize, if we have found a true and personal relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, that this is so. It’s not always easy, this path of faithfulness. Yet, here is the testimony of a famous king of Israel: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, NIV) There is a rod of protection and correction and there is a staff of rescue and support. Life goes on.

Someone has said, “Don’t seek the healing; seek the Healer.” The path is not always easy, but Jesus will get you through.