In the late 1700s, a milkmaid told a skeptical physician that she had exposed herself to cowpox to prevent her from contracting smallpox. The physician dismissed her remedy as an old wives' tale. But Edward Jenner listened to the milkmaid. After experimenting with ways of preventing the disease, Jenner introduced a vaccination for smallpox. (The word vaccine comes from the Latin word vacca, meaning cow.) Because Jenner listened to the unlikely, the world's population was delivered from illness and death by smallpox.

The Bible story of Naaman tells us about someone else who was reluctant to believe that healing could come by unlikely means. At first Naaman didn't want to take Elisha's advice, but he eventually conquered his pride and accepted Elisha's instructions to bathe himself in the Jordan River. In itself the river had no healing power, but Elisha spoke for God, and obeying God's instructions brought healing. Today, listening to God by studying the Bible may seem superstitious and unsophisticated. However, when we apply the Bible's principles in our lives, we are cleansed and healed.