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But will God heal? Specifically, will God heal you or your loved one? Ultimately, we don’t know what God is going to do. He’s in control. That’s the crux of the issue. We have to let go and trust Him. We have to give it to God.
That is the hardest part. Because deep down inside, we know that He may not heal. And if He doesn’t heal, that causes us to face an even more important question: Is God good?
If God chooses not to heal, doesn’t that mean He’s not good? Why would God decide not to heal someone?
Ann Voskamp’s little toddler sister was hit by a truck and killed right in front of the view of her mother, who was washing dishes at the kitchen sink and looking out the window. She was running across the road after a cat. Ann raises this question about God’s goodness in her book, One Thousand Gifts:
“Can there be a good God? A God who graces with good gifts when a crib lies empty through long nights, and bugs burrow through coffins? Where is God really? How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind?” (p. 12)
“That which seems evil only seems so because of perspective…But what perspective sees good in dead farm boys, good in a little girl crushed under tires of a truck right in front of her mother’s eyes, good in a brother-in-law who buries his first two sons in the space of nineteen months-and all the heinous crimes and all the weeping agony and all the scalding burn of this world?” (pp.88-89)
Ann’s conclusion after much thought, study, and prayer is this: “Out of the darkness of the cross, the world transfigures into new life. And there is no other way…It is suffering that has the realest possibility to bear down and deliver grace. And grace that chooses to bear the cross of suffering overcomes that suffering.” (p. 97)
In suffering, in sickness, in injury, in need, we are taught about God’s grace. The cross, the suffering, transfigures us into the likeness of Jesus.
That doesn’t mean for a moment that I believe we’re supposed to give up and accept whatever is happening. We need to take authority over satan and continue to pray, pushing through all fear and doubt, pushing through the crowds and all obstacles, whatever is in our way, to be able to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment – to cry out like Jairus did, falling at His feet, “Please come and lay Your hands on my daughter, so she will get well and live.” (Mark 5:23, NASB)
In my book Walking With God, my former pastor Lawrence Wilson said that it is God’s decision whether He will heal someone. But it is our job and our responsibility to believe in faith and to continue to pray for healing – until the very end. As we’re praying, we’re also giving the final outcome to God – whatever He chooses. To trust Him. To know that no matter, He is still good and He loves us with an everlasting love. He will use all things for His glory.
“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.“Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.” (John 9:1-4, NLT)
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Did you enjoy this article? You can learn more about prayer and healing through Beth’s ebook, Walking With God, at http://www.bethjones.net/my-products/walking-with-god-ebook-now-available/ and through her 7-audios, quiet time series at http://www.bethjones.net/my-products/quiet-time-audio-set/.
