Image by Debby Maciorowski used with permission

The stream of Christianity I swim in holds as one of its four cardinal doctrines the following statement : “Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in the atonement, and is the privilege of all believers.” http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_fundamental_truths/sft_full.cfm

I believe in divine healing. I have personally experienced it. I believe supernatural power to heal is found in the atoning work of Christ ( Jesus death on the cross and resurrection from the dead).  I believe that all Christians have access to this healing power. I believe it is received simply by praying and receiving by faith the healing work.

BUT IF THAT IS TRUE…

Why is it some people get healed and some people don’t?

I have a friend who has been healed of certain ailments in the past and who is seeking healing for another sickness just now. Yet the healing has not come to pass. Many well-meaning (I am certain) Christian friends are telling her that the reason she is not being healed is simply because of her lack of faith.

I find that answer a little too narrow for my liking. Healing is  simple. We pray for it, expect it and then receive it apart from any work of our own. We don’t have to jump through hoops for it or say seven different types of prayer while standing on our heads rowing down the Delaware. Yet heaing is also complex in that it fits into God’s plan like a puzzle piece. It is a part of the puzzle not the whole puzzle. God wants to heal as a part of His plan but physical healing is not the whole plan.  And sometimes I think we try to put healing in place of some other works God would do.

Sometimes the reason God does not heal is because a person lacks faith; But I am convinced that sometimes God does not heal because healing  doesn’t fit into the part of the puzzle He is working on in our lives.  We get cancer and we begin to cry for healing but God is really trying to get us to set our houses in order and reconcile broken relationships. We break a leg and cry for instantaneous healing so that we can take care of ourselves when God is trying to get us to learn to trust Him and others more so we can grow in humility. We develop chronic arthritis and begin to harangue Heaven about a pain-free life now and God is really interested in the fruit of patience He is developing through the fiery trial.

I agree, lack of faith can hold up healing.

But so can:

the process of sanctification,

God’s need to bring us into people’s lives for the purpose of evangelization,

AND

God’s sense of timing.

Dear brothers and sisters, before we throw around our platitudes about why certain people are not being healed of certain things we had best pray and realize that healing is a part of God’s very complex plan. We had also best humble ourselves and admit there are parts of that plan that are wonderful beyond our ability to comprehend. Once we have done that maybe, just maybe, we will bring a better answer to our struggling comrades than condemning their faith.