Some Christians these days feel like God is slow in showing signs and wonders when they call on Him. To some of them the manifestation of miracles, signs and wonders is over while some think that their faith is no longer strong enough to provoke miracles.

I recently met a 76-year-old Christian who complained to me that he was upset at God not healing him from his ailment. He couldn’t fathom why God wouldn’t give him the miracle he has been praying for. This could be the same question that many other Christians have been asking nowadays.

This lack of understanding for why God does miracles is responsible for the breeding of miracle seekers in our churches today even among the elderly. I have come to realize that when God wants to bring us to Himself, He performs miracles in our lives to bring us to Himself. But after a while, He allows us pass through difficulties and trials to test our faith.

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New Testament miracles were performed to attract unbelievers to Christ: “And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick” (John 6:2). There are biblical accounts of mature Christians who needed miraculous healing but never experienced it. Paul was sick, and yet God refused to heal him (2 Corinthians 12:9). Timothy had stomach issues and had to drink a little wine to treat it (1 Timothy 5:23). Neither one of them receive miraculous healing — despite their prayers.

The Apostle Paul also left Trophimus, one of his disciples, sick in Miletus without miraculously healing him (2 Timothy 4:20). Epaphroditus was also sick to the point of death and received no miraculous healing from Paul (Philippians 2:27). That’s the same Paul who performed many miracles, including the healing of a cripple man in Lystra (Acts 14:8).  

Paul, Trophimus, Timothy and Epaphroditus did not need any proof or conviction of who God is and what He can do. These men believed in Christ and had moved to the next level in their Christian walk of partaking in the suffering of Christ. “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29).

What mature Christians need in time of affliction is grace, not miracles. It is wrong for an adult Christian who is supposed to be on the mission field to be moving from one church to another in search of miracles, signs and wonders. We need to seek maturity in Christ and not chase after miracles.

God rarely gives miracles to mature Christians who are growing in their faith. He pursues our holiness with much greater zeal than He does our pleasure and comfort in this life. Remembering this can help a lot of us overcome our frustrations when God doesn’t give us the miracles we ask for.