I was encouraged by my friend to write about health and healing, especially during these times of the pandemic. We have been seeing our dear and near ones falling sick and going through seasons of despair and discouragement. It’s time we remind ourselves that there is hope amidst any chaos if we trust in God. No matter how hopeless the situation might be, there is always enough hope to be saved for those who trust in the Almighty God (El-Shaddai).
Romans 10:11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
There can be many questions that may have build up in your mind over this season. Maybe you were a victim of the pandemic and overcame it. Maybe you’ve seen others go through it or lost someone to it. It has affected all of us in someway, whether big or small. Being a responsible citizen and adhering to the present protocols is our duty, but being a panic-stricken citizen and giving up on all hope is not for a believer. There is always more to the story than what we see with our eyes if we believe in a God who works in ways beyond what we can see.
Let’s start with the most obvious question of all—can God heal? And the answer is YES! We can get scriptures to prove that God has and does heal people who put their faith in Him or for the sake of the faith of the one who prays over the sick (Matthew 8:1, Matthew 12:13, Matthew 14:14, Matthew 14:36, Luke 5:25).
Today, we too can pray in the name of Jesus and receive this healing over our lives if we pray in faith that God is able to heal us. Jesus died for the salvation of all mankind. For the one who believes in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, His blood cleanses him of all sins and through His stripes we receive healing. For me it is easier to believe this since I am a beneficiary of His healing in my life. Not once but many times including a recent episode of the pandemic, I have seen how God miraculously healed me in my body. Christian life is not just studying about God but experiencing the reality of God in our lives. Just like theory without practical knowledge is incompetent, so is studying about God, without experiencing God’s truth and reality in life.
Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
The point I want to emphasize here is that God’s healing is not just limited to the physical body. God heals both the body of sickness and the soul of sin. God’s healing is wholesome and complete. He is Jehovah Rapha—The Lord who heals.
How can one be well, when he suffers morally? —Leo Tolstoy
So, our next question might be, then why is not everyone who believes in God healed? I know that it is true and there are no two ways about it that God can heal. This is not a question up for debate. He heals the sick who have faith in Him or because of the faith of the one who prays over the sick. But why is it that some were healed one way and another person had to go through something and then be healed or why one who seems to have faith in God is not yet healed is not for us to break our heads over. What I can do is affirm that God is in control. Hold on to God and He will change trials into testimonies for His glory. Even if we go through a sickness God will give us the strength to overcome it and become stronger not only in our body but also in our faith in Him.
Mark 8:36-37 “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
However, God is not just interested in healing the body but even more in healing our inner man—our heart, mind and soul. If it takes a bodily sickness to heal the heart of the deadly disease of pride, boastfulness, jealousy, hatred, stubbornness, well then that is God’s way of healing that person from the inside. Or maybe God wanted to show them that they can’t control their lives which is just a matter of a breath. I can never list down the reasons why someone went through something, but I can always assure that God is in control of the one who trusts in Him, even during the sickness God is still in control and He is not blind to your circumstances.
Psalm 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”
Psalm 119:71 “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”
“I seek a not a long life, but a full one, like You Lord Jesus.” Like Jim Elliot who said these words, may we also desire a full life that fulfills God’s plans and purposes for us rather than a long but empty one.
God is almighty and He does all things for His own purposes which will not make sense to us simply because we don’t and can’t think like God who knows the end before the beginning. But the scriptures say that the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the plans of God (1 Corinthians 2:12-16). Nobody can limit God’s ways but we know that a father disciplines the son he loves. If a father doesn’t give a second look at what his son does with his life, that’s not called love.
Hebrews 12:5-7 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
I am not healthy and well because I am by any means better off than a person who is down with the flu. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards. But I am well because of my faith in God and His forgiveness that is mine now because I believe that Jesus died for all my sins and weaknesses. So in Him and through Him alone, I am saved.
Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Don’t lose heart if you are going through a season of sickness in your body or mind. Don’t let your mind tell you that God has forsaken you. We see many examples of people in the Bible and in today’s world, who trusted God sincerely and yet did not receive a bodily healing.
The existence of illness or suffering in a believer’s life does not necessarily constitute a sinful life or a life that lacks faith. Apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord on three separate occasions for the Lord to remove the “thorn in his flesh,” yet God’s grace was enough for the apostle and His power was made perfect in Paul’s weaknesses. Elisha the prophet raised the son of the Shunamite women yet he died of a sickness (2 Kings 4:18-37, 2 Kings 13:14, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9) and so on.
We cannot ever answer why and what God has in mind for each person. But the truth remains the same, that if we surrender our lives to Jesus, then even if our bodies go through sickness, we still have a future hope that is eternal. With God on our side, we can only get stronger with everything that comes our way. But without God, anything has the potential to break you down. If we trust in Him, even in our weakness His strength is displayed in us for His own glory.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
When God helps us to understand that the greatest blessing we can have is God Himself, then the joy of God becomes our strength (Nehemiah 8:10 “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”). We rejoice because He has already given us everything we need in Jesus. Christian life is joyful because we have Jesus. We are not self-dependent people but God-dependent. And that is our never ending source of strength. He will not leave us nor forsake us. If your body is healed you might live up to 70-80 years, given all goes well. But when you receive Jesus in your life, you live with Him eternally beyond this life. (John 11:25-26)
That’s why we can also say, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Affirm Truth 