Why Does God choose to heal some and not others? (Dec 2014)

Once again as we wind down the year, I find myself reflecting back on the year. There is one particular event that caught my attention and I want to share it with you. Again, this is not a one sentence face book post, by now you know I am not capable of doing that for my Christmas letter J, but hopefully if you read these 4 pages, it will be worth your time.

Earlier this year I went as a participant of Bill Glass prison ministries to visit prisoners in the Louisville Metro Jail. As part of this ministry, the teams divide up and go to be with a group of prisoners. Normally there is some type of entertainer to start off like a singer, basketball trick artist, juggler, etc. After they finish, they ask if anyone is tired of being their own God and wants to seek an alternative. We then sit and share the 5 basics that sum up the key message of hope the bible contains:

A) Heaven and eternal life is a free gift from God, It can’t be earned and it is not deserved. (Eph 2:8,9, Gal 2:16)

B) We are all sinners (Isa 53:6, Rom 3:23), me especially, and none of us can save ourselves (Romans 6:23), we desperately need to repent for wanting to be our own god and turn to the true God who loves us and has promised to help clean us up (1 John 1:9).

C) God is both Merciful and Just. He is merciful in that He does not want to punish us (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9), but He is just in that He has to (Exodus 34:7, Luke 13:5).

D) Jesus is 100% God (John 1:1), Co creator of the Universe (Gen 1:26, John 1:3), who has always existed (John 8:58), and who holds all things together (Col 1:17).

Jesus is also 100% Human, who came down to earth and was born of a virgin (Luke 1:30-33), lived among us (Mathew, Mark, Luke, John), weeps with us (John 11:35, Ps 56:8), and understands how difficult life on earth can be (Isa 53:3-11, John 18:2, John 19:1-3, Luke 23:33 to 39).

Jesus died (Luke 23:46), Rose from the dead (Luke 24:1 to 8), his innocent blood paid the eternal price for our sin (Eph 1:7-8) and Jesus has purchased a place for us in Heaven (John 3:16)

E) We access this free gift from God through Faith. Faith is not head knowledge as even the demons know there is one true God (James 2:19), but true Faith is trusting that God loves us, wants a personal relationship with us, and that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is God’s plan for our salvation. (John 14:6, Eph 1:5, 2 CO 5:18)

I met with the prisoners to share those key spiritual truths above and offer an alternative plan for their lives that could offer hope and peace where they had none.

Before I did this, the entertainer shared his testimony. I must say, His testimony disturbed me. Basically, he said that he had 2 sons. One of them got sick. He prayed for him but he still died. After this, the man decided he did not want anything to do with God. If God allowed his son to die, then God was not worth following. He became his own god and did as he pleased. Later, after years of hating God, his second son became sick. The mother urged him to pray for his son, but he refused. Finally, he broke down and prayed and his second son was later healed and did not die. Now he is going around telling everyone how good God is.

After hearing this, I could not help but think, what is going to happen to this man’s faith if his second son once again becomes sick and then dies. Will he once again spit at God and turn his back on God?

Healing is a controversial topic among Christians. All of us have to wrestle through this topic and come to our own conclusions. I would like to share with you some of the conclusions I have reached.

Question 1: Does God heal people?

What the bible says (Examples of documented healings):

- Unable to have Children (Gen 29:31, Gen 30:22, 1 Sam 1:19,20), Lame, Blind, Mute, Maimed (Mat 15:30, Mat 21:14), Plague/Disease (Mar 3:10), Bleeding (Mark 5:29), Mental illness, Palsy, diseased (Mat 4:24)

What I have observed:

I have personally seen prayer requests answered with yes, and seen cases where the doctors did not believe a couple could have children and then later they were blessed with several children. I have seen cases where the doctors said it was not possible for a person to live longer than 6 months, and then looked again and found the patient was totally healed and could not explain it.

What I have concluded:

Indeed God does perform miracles, even today, and does heal people.

Question 2: If God choses to heal some, why are others not healed? This is a critical question.

What the Bible says:

Mathew 21:22 And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

James 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask.

Mathew 13:58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

What you might conclude if this is all you read:

You might conclude that God will give you everything you ask for in prayer, including healing, and if you do not receive that healing, either you did not ask properly or it is your lack of faith that is to blame.

What the Bible also says:

1) Mat 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Note: Jesus, the co-creator of the Universe, our personal Savior, asked the Heavenly Father that if there was some other way to accomplish saving us other than what lay ahead of Him, to remove this cup (burden) from Him. Then Jesus concluded, but not My will, but Your will be done. In the end, we know the answer to this prayer was no. This burden could not be taken from Jesus as this was not God’s will. No one else could accomplish this task except Jesus.

Did Jesus lack Faith? Is that why He did not receive what He asked for? Of course not. Jesus actually demonstrated His Faith best by continuing to trust even when the answer was no.

What I have observed:

Joni Eareckson Tada – She was paralyzed from the neck down. I am sure many people in church prayed for her healing and she likely looked for and expected it, yet God has chosen not to heal her. Her Faith in God in the midst of her current physical struggles is inspiring. To me, more so even than had God chosen to heal her. I am inspired by stories like the man who lost his wife and children in a car crash and immediately on the side of the road chose to praise God for the time he was given with them rather than curse God for his current loss.

What I have concluded: It is important to pray for healing for ourselves and for others. We are called to bear one another’s burdens and support each other in prayer. God does indeed hear the petitions of His people. However, like Jesus modeled for us, our prayer should be focused ultimately on Gods will. We need to learn to trust that God knows better than we do what is best not just for us but for those around us. Many people have come to know and experience the love and hope of Jesus because of Joni’s testimony. God has used her current circumstances for both her good and the good of others. I know in my life, and the lives of my wife and my children, God has often used difficulties and trials, far more than blessings, to shape and mold our character and bring us closer to him.

3) Why does God heal people?

What the Bible says:

John 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

John 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

What I conclude:

It is not a lack of Faith that prevented this man from being healed or anything wrong he or his parents did. God had ordained to wait until the proper time to heal him. God could have waited to heal him eternally after death, but God chose in this case to heal this man while he still lived. Why? So others could see the works of God and Jesus could be glorified. The man was healed for the sole purpose to point us back to God.

Other thoughts:

John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Have you ever thought about what happened to Lazarus after Jesus raised him from the dead?

The answer is he died again. Why?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death

Well then, If Lazarus was just going to die again eventually anyway, what was the point of Jesus raising him from the dead? The point was for Jesus to demonstrate He had the power to raise us back from the dead. This gives us Hope. However, our Hope is not in this life. Even for those whom God has chosen to provide healing to, eventually all of us will get sick again and die.

Final Conclusion:

Despite prayers for healing for my wife, like Joni Eareckson Tada, so far God has not chosen to heal her in this life. I have Faith that if it is God’s will, she still might receive healing and I value those that pray for her. However, I want my Faith to be bigger than that. I want the type of Faith that Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had (Daniel 3:16,17) to believe that God could rescue them out of the fiery furnace, but to also state that even if God choses not to, still they will follow him.

If my wife is never healed in this world, I have complete Faith that her Heavenly Father loves her, has prepared a place for her in heaven, and after death she will never again struggle with Mental illness, heart disease, liver issues. Never again will she take insulin.

My Hope is in the eternal and I pray for all of you this is where your hope will be also and nothing on this earth that could come against you will be able to shake your faith and trust in the God who loves you and cares deeply about each of you. Merry Christmas………….

http://realtruthmatters.com/blog/index.php?title=ministry-of-suffering-joni-eareckson&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1