Case #1:
When she was just a year and a half old, my mother contracted the Polio virus. Thousands of people prayed for her—Christians throughout the world, churches, leaders, and even evangelists renowned for healing ministries. She survived, but she’s had to live with an unhealed, crippled leg her entire life.
Case #2:
Three years ago, my brother-in-law Ramon developed an extremely rare form of cancer. Hundreds of people and many churches prayed and interceded for his healing. Ramon died just seven months after his diagnosis, and his dreams of filmmaking died with him.
Case #3:
Around the same time, my wife was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. We prayed intensely for her healing, but in the end, a surgeon removed her thyroid gland and she underwent radioactive iodine treatment to kill any stray thyroid cells. Thankfully, she is now cancer free, but the answer was medical, not supernatural.
In recent years, I’ve begun to ask myself if supernatural healing is sort of a Christian urban legend—the product of exaggerated email forwards and emotional myth-propagation with no academic scrutiny.
But if I believe in an all-powerful God who constructed a mind-blowingly complex universe with mathematical perfection, and who spawned cell-based life with its mechanical and chemical intricacy, could this Being not also repair what has become damaged? You know—a sort of manufacturer warranty? Logically, I must accept that God can heal supernaturally.
The issue then becomes why doesn’t He heal supernaturally?
As I was reading Mark’s gospel the other day, I was struck with the part where the children come to Jesus. You all know the tale: kids come to Jesus, the disciples get all high and mighty and try to drive them away. Jesus scolds the disciples and tells them they need to be more like those kids if they want to see the Kingdom of God.
It occurred to me that these kids were some of the only people that came to Jesus without an agenda or preconceived notions. They didn’t want to challenge Him on questions of theology, or ask Him for fish sandwiches, deliverance or even healing. They just wanted Him.
As I thought about these things, I thought I heard a small voice asking me something like, “You’re hung up on your experiences. Can’t you just let them go and believe in Me?”
I’ll bet if you told those kids that Jesus heals the sick and raises the dead, they’d say “of course He can.” The rest of us want to qualify it, challenge it, or dismiss it altogether. But that’s not the way to participate in the Kingdom.
Can I just be ok with the fact that sometimes He heals, and sometimes He doesn’t? Do I really have to understand everything He does or doesn’t do?
This is an issue I’m still struggling with, and have been for a long time. I don’t expect a glory cloud to descend on me with all the answers any time soon. But I think these little Jewish kids from Jesus’ day may have helped me out a bit.
Dan, i lost my father on November 21, 2006 and for the past 4 years now I have often been hung up on the Why? or Why not question. I doubt I will ever know or fully understand God, but this blog my have just rocked my world a little bit. I need to stop coming to Jesus with my agenda and just learn to come to Him. Thank you for sharing. I will be stopping by often...
ReplyDeleteI know God has and I believe He still does heal people supernaturally. Mostly because I have had it happen with my daughter when she was 2 yrs old and had a very high fever. We did what Jesus did in the Bible, and commanded the fever to leave in Jesus name...and it did! Another time I had prayed for a teen that had many back problems, and her leg grew out a couple inches and she was healed. However, not everyone I have prayed for, pray for or have seen "healing anointed people" pray for get healed this way. Some do and many don't. People from all Faiths and belief or unbeleivers.So the real question is,why do some get healed supernaturally, some medically and some just don't? Some get partial healings and some full? Do you think we will ever truely know the answers to these questions before we go to Heaven and ask God ?
ReplyDeleteI think when someone is healed medically it is still 100% God who allowed His healing to be done though the God-guided hands of doctors and nurses. As far as those who didn't get healed in any way, we will know someday, and it will all make sense. Life on earth can be so hard sometimes, but that's because we're on THIS side of heaven.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was single, I belonged to a ministry team. Our main purpose was to pray for the sick, in between praying, we were studying scriptures on healing, and doing Bible Studies on miracles and healing. I saw alot of people get healed. I read a book "healing the Sick" by TL Osborn, his take: God heals, His will is for us to be healed; I believed that for years; until the birth of my son, diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, I claimed those scriptures I had learned like crazy, re-read the book "healing the sick"; lived in guilt for years about not having enough faith to heal my son. Now I am realizing that God is soveriegn and we can't predict His will or tell Him what to do. This is the same soveriegnty that gives us humans free will, yet He knows the decisions we will make and has planned accordingly, yet we decide, hmmmm, I don't think our human minds will ever fully capture the Soveriegnty (sp?) of God. I do know this, through our son's disability, we have grown, people are constantly ministered to, and need and desire for God grows every day as we experience the challenges, the heartache, the temptation to envy others and their healthy little boys; this brings us to our knees and before His throne of grace. The question is, would I be able to say that if my son was healed when I wanted him to be healed? God knows what He's doing.
ReplyDeleteExcellent input, everyone. I found all of it very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Danny