Sunday 10 June 2012

WHEN GOD DOES NOT HEAL





In my earlier post,* http://limpohann.blogspot.com/2012/05/when-sickness-strikes.html   I mentioned that I believe there is a definite place for supernatural healing today: “What if a healer claims to have received a rhema word from God that a patient will be miraculously cured without medical intervention? Is there a place for such a stand? Yes, I believe God can heal in so many different ways, with or without medical means; we should not attempt to limit an infinite God.”

Yes, I am not for a moment doubting that God can heal. Or that the prayer of faith can heal:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).

But when reality confronts us in the real world – that some are still not healed despite being prayed for – what are we to do? There are so many cases of non-healing which does not gel with theology that says “God will heal always”. For example, have you seen a Down’s syndrome child being healed completely back to normal?

If God heals always when people get prayed for sicknesses, then we will not have to die and will hypothetically live forever. Then how are we going to expire? We have to die, in most cases, of some illness (eg. heart attack, stroke, or cancer) if we don’t die of accidents. Are there any modern-day Enochs you know of who get translated to heaven without dying?

I wonder whether spiritual healers report their cases of non-healing with the same degree of enthusiasm as they do with their successes.

As a doctor of 30 years and a Christian of the same duration, I have been grappling with this issue day after day. Let us not frame a theology (“God will heal always”) that does not take into account real world considerations.


“Joni Erickson Tada was paralyzed in an accident as a teenager. She prayed in faith many, many times, and has written about those experiences. So why is she still in a wheelchair? Why does Billy Graham have Parkinson's? Why do men and women of God wear glasses or walk with canes?”

“God is glorified by healing, sure, and I've seen it happen. But God is also glorified through a life well-lived in spite of debilitating injury or a damaging illness. I know that I am inspired by a Christian whose faith is not destroyed even if their normal "healthy" body is. Praise God that He is thus glorified!”

Finally, I like this post by well-balanced material by Alpha course: 

https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://www.alphatools.ca/downloads/3-running-a-quality-alpha-course/for-course-administrators/alpha-live-weekly-transcripts/10-week-alpha-transcripts/Week+9_Does+God+Heal+Today.doc&pli=1&chrome=true


There are certainly more factors in the equation than just harping on the fact that God heals in every instance.


The other factors to be considered include: God’s sovereignty, the fall of man (sin) and consequent disease and degeneration, inevitable death that confronts each of us.



God does not answer all our whys this side of eternity when we’re confronted with non-healing – even when all the prerequisites have been fulfilled for spiritual healing. His thoughts and ways are higher than that of ours.

Salvation is the ultimate “miracle” – to get transported to heaven when we die. Healing, if He grants it, is an added blessing – but it should not be viewed as our inalienable right as children of God.

Only in heaven will all our tears be dried up. Perhaps, then, all our perplexities on why God heals some and not others will finally be resolved.

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2 comments:

  1. This is an excerpt from Face to Face with Cancer:

    The Journey: I Am The God That Healeth Thee.
    How many times I had listened to Don Moen sing
    this song. God Heals. We all know that. But healing must not be limited to just physically healing.

    I am fortunate in that respect but I must also say that in this five-year period, I have also lost friends to cancer. My wife and I have our own convictions about physical healing.

    We have prayed for sick friends, too, and we
    know from experience that for every person who
    is healed through prayer, at least one other is not.

    (I would like to differentiate physical healing from a healing of the spirit, which we believe comes to all who seek it.) So where does it put God when physical healing does not come? Do we blame the person’s faithlessness?

    Is God so petty that He will not heal if there are doubts playing in our minds? Is God so powerless that little obstacles can get in the way of His healing?

    In my case specifically, our confidence is based
    on the doctors’ prognosis as much as it is on faith in God. At all times, we believed “God is in His heaven and all is right with the world”. For us, come healing or disease, God is still in charge.

    I have learnt to trust Him fully to unfold my life for me according to His plan. Though I went
    through suffering in the early days, I also know
    that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

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  2. I know of a devout lady with terminal cancer who, while admitted for chemotherapy, witnessed to fellow hospital mates and brought a few of them to the faith. She was so upbeat and positive even to the very end. Still giving her all despite her own suffering.

    On the other hand, last night I just had dinner with a long lost friend (ex-schoolmate) who used to hold healing and deliverance meetings in India. He said there were so many amazing cases of supernatural healing there. Poor, desperate and spiritually hungry, people walked for miles to the place of the meeting. They had great need, faith and expectancy. And God SHOWED UP! They were not disappointed.

    In both the above scenarios, we see God's sovereignty at work.

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