GETTING HEALED

I can remember decades ago as a new believer hearing a preacher say that no Bible character who served God died from disease. He went on to say that we could & should expect God to give us divine health. We just needed to believe Him for it. With my limited knowledge of Scripture at that time, I accepted what he said. In the intervening years I have learned a few things that make me question the accuracy & wisdom of what he said.

Have you ever heard stories about people who believed that God should heal them or their loved one, or even that He was obligated to do that? Then, if what they believed didn’t come to pass, they fell away or stopped believing that God can & does heal today?

As a Pentecostal, I believe in praying for the sick & have seen God heal people. But I also know that not everyone is healed in response to believing prayer.

This issue of why some are not healed is a hard one. It poses both a theological challenge & a pastoral one. People have talked a lot about it, & I’m certainly not going to solve it here. But I do want to offer an insight that can help us to get a little more understanding.

Hebrews 11 (the “Hall of Faith”) is a favorite chapter of many who believe that God intervenes miraculously in the lives of people who are facing impossible situations. The first part (verses 1-35a) list miracle after miracle that people of faith in the Living God experienced. But beginning with verse 35b it describes the “others” who didn’t experience miraculous deliverance.

Another theme of this chapter is that the Old Testament witnesses experienced what they did because of their commitment to the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan as it was being carried out in their generation. Verses 13 & 39-40 hint at the idea that they were in a process that would not be complete in their day. There was something futuristic in their faith that motivated them to persevere, whether or not they personally saw its fulfillment.

I believe this is a key to understanding faith.

Faith includes praying & expecting God to do a specific thing in a specific situation. But it doesn’t stop there. It also submits itself to God’s will. This is where God’s redemptive plan comes into play.

What will most open people’s eyes to the reality of the power of the Gospel? When they see a dynamic demonstration of God’s power & grace at work? Sometimes that’s what it takes.

Is it the joy & peace in the life of a believer who is going thru hell? Sometimes that’s what it takes.

How can we know the best way? Unless the Holy Spirit tells us, we cannot know. That’s why we must trust God’s judgment.

When we try to answer the question about healing in personal terms rather than from God’s redemptive perspective, we set ourselves up to be disappointed. 

When we try to answer based on what God wants to do to bring revelation to others of who He is & what He can do, we open ourselves to greater clarity of understanding. We have peace that the world can’t give. And we can persevere & truly walk by faith.