You’re sick; you go to a respected doctor, you’re examined, a diagnosis is made; the prognosis is not good; you await a formal announcement. The doctor informs you that he can prescribe some medications to help with the pain and suffering, but even with the best medical care—there’s no cure. You take a deep breath and get a second opinion, and a third, and a fourth. Your faith is stretched but you don’t lose hope. You’ve heard of others that were told the same thing and some overcame, and some didn’t. You’re concerned and worried, but not desperate. You keep all your options open.
You hear about a traveling preacher is preaching about the saving and healing power of Jesus Christ from the little town of Nazareth in Palestine. You carefully consider the circumstances; it’s not idol worship, so you give it some consideration. You can’t get to the traveling preacher, he’s too important, too busy, and he’s not coming to you. Could there possibly be another way? A friend of yours takes a simple handkerchief to the preacher, he touches it, your friend brings the handkerchief back to you, and ‘you’re cured’! Impossible? It happened!The apostle Paul was on his third missionary journey. Making a stop in Ephesus, a seaport in what is now modern-day Turkey, Paul preformed numerous miracles in the city. Including touching handkerchiefs, which were then delivered to people in need; curing their sicknesses. We need to clarify an important point—it wasn’t a magical cloth that healed anyone, it wasn’t the power of Paul’s touch, it was a miracle-working God that did the curing.
“God did extraordinary things through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” Acts 19:11-12
When someone is told there’s no known cure—that may be true. But God isn’t restricted to the same limitations we face.
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