“Try to be Me. What’s with all the requests and sometimes incessant demands for healing. Should I heal that lady or that guy since they are both dedicated followers? What about the unbelieving father whose body is wrecked with cancer as a result of chain smoking over three decades? After all, his family who are my worshippers kept praying for him despite his indifference and recklessness.

Maybe I should help that faith healer out since he is genuinely concerned for the sick and infirmed, unlike so many of his kind who are merely putting on a spectacle.

You know what? That’s the same situation my Son faced when He was on earth. The crowds kept clamoring for His attention, kept wanting His healing powers to course through their sick bodies or to restore their broken body parts. In fact, there was a time in which only one of the ten lepers He healed came back to express gratitude. Wow, doesn’t that make you wonder? I do… even though I know everything!

What irks me is that when I am not planning to perform a healing miracle, the sufferer accuses me of being uncompassionate or incompetent! And her well-meaning friends and family members try to defend me by putting the fault on her as in “you don’t have enough faith!” So the poor girl is not just experiencing physical ailment but emotional guilt and a sense of failure as well.

Every living creature became sick when Adam and Eve disobeyed my instructions. So the humans I created chose sin, rebellion, pride, and unbelief. It pained my heart when human nature fell and as a consequence, destruction, damnation, and death came into the equation. Of course, my Son did something about it, something that cost Him dearly and totally. He took all the sin and disease of fallen human nature when He died on the Cross.

My creation is also unwell as a result. Natural disasters, what humans like to refer to as “acts of God,” are signs and symptoms of this planet groaning for redemption and restoration.

So do I believe in healing? Most certainly! Am I not also called Jehovah Rapha – the God who heals? In other words, I have the ability, the availability, and the sensibility to heal sick people and calm stormy seas. However, there is a purpose in all that I do or not do. The purpose may not seem so obvious in many situations and humans think that life is just a meaningless flux of events, tragic or otherwise. Yet I am the Lord of history on both the macro and micro levels of life on earth and I am working out my purposes no matter the circumstances and the outcomes. Trust me … it’s for the best of everyone.”

Pardon the audacity of it all but I have tried to suggest how God must have felt when it comes to the subject of healing. Of course, this is never an academic or theological exercise for the ones who are terminally ill, or physically maimed as a result of accident or calamity, or who have just discovered an unwelcome and unpleasant intrusion to the body, or who are born with a disability that is yet to be miraculously reversed. Pain and suffering is always personal. And healing is definitely the first option for all who are suffering. In the Scriptures, health is primarily a divine gift. It is not an entitlement. Especially when we neglect or abuse our bodies. A gift is the prerogative of the Giver on whom He may bestow it. So some people are not healed in the way they may desire or be not healed at all while others experience miraculous healing whether instantly or over time. God also gives us doctors and surgeons who prescribe cures through the art of medicine. This means of healing was employed in both the Old and New Testaments (Gen 50:2; 2 Chr 16:12; Job 13:4; Mt 9:12; Mk 6:13, Lk 10:34, Jam 5:14, etc.) In other words, God works through medicine as well as direct intervention and so our faith is not so much in medicine per se as in the Creator of medicine. One surgeon expressed it well when he said, “I cut, but God heals.”

Understanding Sickness

The Bible teaches that God’s desire is for healing and wholeness for all His people. Sickness was not part of God’s original creation, but it entered the world as a result of the fall. Romans chapter 8 teaches that the whole creation has fallen into bondage and decay. Much sickness is our own responsibility. It is caused by our neglect of the laws of good health which God has built unto the world. Proper diet, exercise, and rest are all essential to good health. The Bible teaches that we sow what we reap (Gal 6:7-8). This also applies to a healthy lifestyle. To pray for healing without altering an unhealthy lifestyle is presumptuous and is part of what Jesus means when He says we should not put God to the test.

Some sickness is sent by Satan as in the case of Job or Luke 13:11-12. In the Gospels we observe a close relationship between Jesus’ ministry of casting out evil spirits and His healing the sick. At times the two seem to be identical.

Some sickness is directly sent by God as chastisement for sin or as an inducement to turn us back to God (Num 12:9-11, 1 Cor 11:29-31). However, it is wrong to declare that all sickness is caused by sin. A good example of this is found in John 9 where Jesus restored sight to a man born blind. Jesus affirmed that the man’s blindness was not a result of his or his parents’ sin but that God had allowed it to happen!

Understanding Healing

God certainly has the power and the desire to heal people today but there is no Scriptural support for any one single method of healing. In the Old and New Testaments there are many methods of healing. In Numbers 21:7-9, anyone who looks upon the bronze serpent receives healing. In 1 Kings 17:21-22, Elijah brings healing to a young boy only through the strenuous effort of stretching himself out upon the boy three times. Again in the ministry of Jesus we see a variety of methods – with a touch (Mt 8:3); with a word (Mt 8:8); by laying on of hands (Mt 9:18), etc. At times, Jesus demands faith or action from those who would be healed and yet, at other times Jesus seems to heal every single person in large crowds without any conditions. God’s methods of healing vary enormously. It is not the method but the Lord who is the healer. Why then are some persons never healed? Part of the answer is that we live in a fallen world which will only be fully redeemed in the future. We do have a foretaste of the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom in all its fullness is yet to come. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 teaches about the coming day when our perishable bodies will put on an imperishable nature and our corruptible bodies will put on incorruptibility. But until that day, physical death and decay are part of this present order. In fact, physical death is a form of healing for people who are in the final stages of a debilitating and fatal illness. It signals the end of pain and suffering for the person who may not even be able to respond in any discernible manner to his loved ones. For the Christian, physical death is not the end. Because of the resurrection, we will have new bodies that are completely free from physical defects.

God’s greater purpose for some of us may include an incurable physical illness. An inspiring example is Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic since her teenage diving accident, who is used by God in an international ministry to people like her. She often said in conferences that God is using her not in spite of her disability but because of it.

To heal or not to heal… for people like Joni, that’s no longer the question.

Michael Tan is the Executive Vice-President of Eagles Communications. He likes to preach, write, play the guitar, and manage his staff!

Illustration by James Tissot 1836-1902 In the Villages the Sick were Presented to Him, Brooklyn
Illustration by James Tissot 1836-1902 He Heals the Lame, Brooklyn Museum