Like everything else about Him, God’s view of healing is much bigger than ours.
In asking some questions about healing on my social media pages, I received an uncommonly large number of responses. It’s clear we hunger for God’s healing touch. And how much we need Him!
Our world is one where people get sick and die. Every one of us. Sometimes that happens quickly, sometimes slowly. But no one can escape.
Throughout history people have sought healing from sickness and disease in many ways. The God we serve has a lot to say about healing. Throughout the Old Testament God presents Himself as One who is the source of healing.
Then Jesus comes on the scene, and a flood of healing follows everywhere He goes. Some of the people Jesus healed were suffering the results of their own sin. Others were suffering completely unrelated to any sin. Jesus was not nearly as concerned with where sickness came from as He was with relieving suffering. Jesus had only one attitude toward sickness: He is against it!
Ever since Jesus’ personal time on this earth the Christian church has also believed in healing. In the last couple centuries healing has become a matter of significant controversy, with some saying healing is available to all of God’s children here and now, and others saying that such divine healing is not something we can expect prior to Jesus’ return. Sometimes these different branches of Christian faith have become very heated in their disagreements.
But what matters to you is, what happens when you get sick? Questions arise:
- Is my sickness a punishment from God?
- Will God heal me?
- Is there something I am supposed to do to get my healing?
- If I don’t get healed, is there something wrong with me?
Through wrestling with some of these questions personally and theologically, here’s my position.
I believe God is the Healer. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
While we are living in this sinful world we all get sick, sometimes through our own behavior, sometimes through no fault of our own. God wants us well, and His healing is available today.
But His goal in our healing is much broader than we usually realize. He is after our eternal healing, which includes our physical body, but also our mind and emotions, our relationships, and our innermost heart and spirit.
- Melissa struggles with infertility and pelvic pain. Intimacy with her husband is difficult. But she also struggles with guilt after her teen years spent in numerous sexual relationships: she left an abusive home at her first opportunity. Now she feels God is punishing her for those years, and cannot believe she will ever have a happy life, good marriage, or be a mother.
- James is an overweight diabetic in constant pain. He cannot work, and feels like he is no longer a real man. His marriage is in shambles. He’s angry with God for not healing his physical pain. His lifestyle is very unhealthy, and he has mostly given up on even trying.
Melissa needs more than a pregnancy and relief of pain. She needs to feel God’s forgiveness and love, and then love from her husband also.
James needs more than removal of his physical pain. He needs hope and motivation to improve his lifestyle, a sense of his value to God, and courage to work on his marriage.
This side of eternity we sometimes cannot see the whole picture from God’s point of view. But in the meantime, we can trust Him. We should pray for total healing, and cooperate with Him in every way that we can to experience that healing.
We must also remember that some of our questions will remain unanswered in this life. We must allow Him to Himself be the Divine Answer, and our Divine Healer.
“Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” Psalm 103:2,3
Your Turn: Have you experienced God’s healing? Where do you need Him to touch your life now? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
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