Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. – Hebrews 1:14 (NLT)
Have you ever seen a beggar who did not want money?
Preaching on Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Rev. Doug Webster, pastor of the historic Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, on October 6, 2013, included in his sermon this amazing story that had happened just the week before.
Pastor Doug was involved in a ministry in northern Ghana, and he told his congregation about a Ghanian named Simon, the main driver for the ministry. Simon had been a diabetic for years, and in August 2013, a sore on his left foot was deteriorating badly.
As the foot got worse, he went to the teaching hospital in the city of Tamale to get a professional opinion, and the doctors confirmed his greatest fear: he would have to get his foot amputated. But by losing his left foot…his clutch foot…he would also lose his ability to drive, his ministry, and his income. It was a crushing blow.
Simon went home and sadly told his wife his driving days were over. The next day, he attended a prayer meeting with other ministry staff; they prayed for his foot, but he didn’t feel anything different.
Later that day, however, it happened.
Simon was at a gas station fueling his truck when a man who appeared to be a beggar approached him. Simon fumbled in his pocket for some coins, but the man said he didn’t want any money. Whoever heard of a beggar who didn’t want money? Instead, the man told Simon he had seen him limping and asked if he could pray for him.
Simon agreed, and the man took out a small vial of oil, anointed Simon’s leg, and prayed for him.
James 5:14-15 reads: “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”
But who ever heard of someone dressed like a beggar, approaching strangers, and carrying around a vial of oil?
Simon finished fueling his truck, but a few moments later, when he went to look for his new friend, he had seemingly disappeared.
Simon had so many questions: who was that man? Why did they anoint him with oil? How did he suddenly vanish?
When Simon got home later that day, things got even more bizarre…and wonderful.
For seemingly no reason, his foot suddenly felt warm. Simon said that in just a few hours from that moment, his foot was miraculously healed. Even more incredible, he said he watched the coloration of his leg change from diseased to healthy before his very eyes.
Simon later went to show his foot to the doctors, and they said, physically speaking, a reversal of deteriorating flesh from diabetes was impossible, and that his healing was a miracle. For his part, Simon indeed credits his healing to a miracle and believes the “beggar” was an angel in disguise.
This story comes from Miracles by Eric Metaxas. In a footnote to this chapter, Metaxas adds: “Just before this book went to press I bumped into Doug Webster at Central Presbyterian. He told he that he had just been to Ghana and had seen Simon, whose foot was still healthy and who was still the principal driver for the ministry.”
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
S.D.G./S.G.D.
