Take a moment to think about a person in your life (past or present) who needs (or needed) healing. What feelings do you have in connection to this person and the events surrounding their need for healing? What questions might you have for God?
When I begin to think about healing, I immediately think of a young boy named Danny. He was about 9 or 10 when he needed healing. Danny was the manager/ball boy/pain in the neck for our football team when I was in highschool. He was that kid that was never around when you needed something from him, but always around when you wanted to be left alone! Danny was also the coach's son, and so we were stuck with him. Early on in that season, Danny went from being the kid everyone hated to the boy everyone loved. It was discovered that Danny had cancer.
Danny's dad was fairly religious, and when it was discovered that he was sick youth rallies/healing service began popping up. Small churches would be packed with 200-300 teens from our town praying, singing, and mostly asking God to heal Danny. We just knew he would be healed! How could God ignore so many sincere and heart felt prayers from so many people? Unfortunately we were all wrong. Danny died later that year, and the feelings of anger, confusion, and betrayal were felt everywhere!
My thoughts on healing don't end here though. My own father was diagnosed with heart problems that the doctors told him he wouldn't recover from. He was given a limited time to live (think months, not years) and told there wasn't much hope. Like Danny, my father went to healing services, like Danny people prayed for him (although not nearly as many), but unlike Danny my father was healed!
So when I think about healing, I have one big question that always hits me...Why are only some people healed?
My guess is that many of you have similar stories, and that you can relate to the feelings of anger, confussion, and betrayal that I've felt. I would be willing to bet that many of you have asked that same question, "Why only some?" To the issue of being angry with God, I would point you to 1 Kings 17:17-24, a story where Elijah yells at God, and likely was quite angry. Such stories exist in the Bible, and show us that God can handle us being angry and yelling. God is big enough, and wise enough to understand and not hold it against us. As far as that darn question about why only some are healed, while others are not...well I can't help you as much here. There's only one person who can answer that, and sometimes it seems like God is less concerned with answering our questions as promptly as we would like.
What I can talk about is this idea of healing we have. First off I want to point out that healing, is God's work. Whether you go to a faith healer, are prayed for by the elders of your church, or pray alone in your house, it's not the person, people, or prayers that heal, it's God. Second, spiritual healing (that which we are talking about) is not a substitute for doctors, medicine, and taking care of yourself. Healing should be seen as a complement to the other things we do to be healthy. For example if I hit my thumb with a hammer, I should put a bandaid on it, take tylenol, and pray for healing. Finally I want to point out that healing does not equal curing. I'll say that again, healing does not equal curing. Often when we think of healing we think of "making better" or curing, but that's not always what's meant by healing. Some will point out that the only true healing is actually death! The thinking goes that all people will die someday, so those that we think are healed (those who are made better or cured) will in fact get sick again and die at some point in the future. The only people who won't get sick, who won't hurt, who will no longer suffer are those who have died.
Whether you know a person who was healed (made better) or "healed" (died) one thing is certain, God loved them, still does love them, and promises to be with them (and you) no matter what.
I am reminded of an event that occurred in my family not too long ago. My youngest daughter split her lip, and was bleeding. My wife and I comforted her, but everytime we would get the bleeding to stop, she would bit her lip and start the bleeding again. After about 20 minutes of this I couldn't take it any longer and volunteered to take our oldest daughter into the other room. It was too painful, too hard for me to be around my hurting child and not be able to help. Especially knowing that she was hurting herself even more. Luckily for us, God is not as weak as I am. God promises to be with us, to walk with us through any pain, any suffering, any loss and never leave our side. God makes (and keeps) this promise even if we are in fact hurting ourselves, even if we're made at God and yelling at God. Even when you don't realize it, even when you think you're abandoned, God is still there with you, still hurting along with you and still loving you!
So today I'm lifting up this problem of "why only some?" But I'm also lifting up the truth that God loves all, that God is with all, and that God will never walk away or abandon anyone!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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