Focal Passage: Acts 9:32-43
In our study for today we will be discussing an issue that many have difficulty with. Can someone be an instrument through which healing can take place?
We all have heard examples where someone claims to have been healed through the powerful prayer or action of other individuals at a religious gathering. But we also know that not everyone who suffers from a physical condition is healed.
Jesus healed a lot of people, but even He did not heal everyone. Even though many were, there were also many who returned home with their problem. The same is true today. There are many people who return home from these “healing services” still bearing their malady.
No true believer would doubt the power of God to heal them. But we must also recognize God doesn’t move primarily for our convenience and comfort.
Nimmo
In II Corinthians 12:7, we see even the Apostle Paul wrestled with this question until God showed him there was a reason. God deals with us in a way according to His plan and purpose. Miracles do not just happen in a vacuum. God has a purpose for each and every one.
God works miracles through individuals to whom He has gifted and through the advancement of technology. But, does He heal outside of these parameters, like in the passage today? Yes, when it serves His plan and purposes. His will.
With these thoughts in mind, we begin our study with Peter traveling throughout the region. Up until this time he primarily stayed in Jerusalem. However, with the persecution ending with the conversion of Saul, we see that the believers, like Philip, who were forced, or chose to leave Jerusalem had taken the Gospel in every direction.
The Jerusalem church, had sent Peter and John to confirm Philip’s work with the Gentiles in Samaria. After seeing how God had moved so mightily there, perhaps Peter and the other disciples saw the need to visit these new churches and encourage them in the Lord. James, the half-brother of Jesus, is seen taking over the responsibility for the Jerusalem church allowing Peter to do just that.
Peter travels to Lydda where he encounters a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Peter tells Aeneas that Jesus had healed him and to get up and make up his bed indicating he was no longer bedridden.
Why did God grant this miracle to Aeneas? The answer is found in verse 35, “So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.”
While still in Lydda, two men arrive from Joppa. They urgently request Peter to return with them to Joppa because a godly woman named Tabitha, or Dorcas in the Greek, had become very ill and died. They had probably heard what had happened in Lydda, and they were hoping perhaps God could do the same the same in Joppa, perform a miracle.
Peter then speaks to the corpse and tells her to get up. She immediately opens her eyes and sits up. Peter then presents her to the believers fully restored to life. Again, why did God do this? The answer is in verse 42, “This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.”
Does God still do miracles today? Absolutely, in accordance to His will and purpose. And, we can see it all around us if we just open our spiritual eyes through His Word and our hearts to His understanding. B&R
