Does God Heal Today?

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. - Luke 4:40

It would be nice to answer the question “Does God heal today?” with a simple “Yes.” It would also be simple (and painful) to answer the question, “No.” But neither of those would not capture all of our experience. Our experience is “Yes and No.” And that’s what the Bible says, also.

The Apostle Paul, who healed any number of people, wrote to Timothy “I left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20) - he wasn’t healed by Paul’s prayers. In first century Palestine, Jesus left way more people un-healed than healed. And even Lazarus - who was the recipient of the greatest healing every by being raised from the dead - eventually died again.

All our thoughts and feelings about those who weren’t healed don’t change the fact that so many people were healed in biblical times and today so many people continue to be healed by God. The stories abound in our church and in our world of shocked doctors and miracles and answers to prayer.

So what do we do with the fact that some are healed and some are not? It’s an empirical reality.

For some of us, we need to face our doubts and deal with the reality of God’s healing. For some of us, we need to face our overconfidence and deal with the reality that often God doesn’t heal. And all of us are invited to draw close to the mystery of the Kingdom of God which is a foretaste of what is to come. What is God saying to you in all of this?