By NiteOwlDave niteowldave@gmail.com
Some suggest that God will remove some - if not all - of our physical problems if we ask Him. Scripture, I suggest, does not support that position.
Fans of God breathed health point to Isaiah 53:5 and 1Peter 2:24. These two verses are foundational to the topic of healing, but are misunderstood and misapplied.
Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
I Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
We are told that the word “healed,” as translated from both Hebrew and Greek, can mean either spiritual or physical healing.
It seems to me that the contexts of Isaiah 53 and 1 Peter 2 refer to spiritual healing, not physical healing. It surely is far more important to be healed, as in being forgiven, from eternally condemning sin than from being fixed of earthly ailments.
It is a given that creator God can and does heal today whom He chooses. He IS God. However, it appears that in most instances God uses sickness, disease and accidents to put us on the shelf to draw us to Him or to take believers home to Heaven.
Jesus and His apostles healed people for one purpose – as evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ was whom He claimed to be: the Son of God, the long promised Messiah.
Yes, there are documented cases of people getting prayed for, getting healed, and leaving the doctors puzzled. There are thousands more who get prayed for and limp away unchanged.
I am of the opinion that, in the majority of cases, God allows health and disease, accident and recovery, to play out according to His natural laws. We are born, we live, we die – often too young because of our own careless lifestyle habits.
We are told in the Bible to pray about our physical issues, yes. However, we must accept the results of prayer as being God’s will. Cancer, etc., which is the result of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, usually conquers our bodies and we die.
It is said that illness and physical ailments can be caused by stress, worry, fear, etc. which are essentially lack of faith. The Bible supports the idea that illness and physical ailments are caused by several sources –
• Unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ
• Unconfessed sin
• Broken relationships
• Demonic influence
• Addictions
• Natural causes
James 5:14 says, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” That is not a promise that God will heal us. God may respond with healing.
A pastor friend puts it this way: “I know from Scripture that sometimes God chooses not to heal but will take the person into the eternal state - the 'ultimate healing'. When that happens, I let God be God, and don't try to explain the situation.
“Many that I've prayed for have found relief while many others haven't.
"For those who haven't, I encourage them to continue to trust God, and recognize that God will never forsake them, regardless of their physical condition.”
It is interesting that God uses physical problems to mold us.
We see that God did not heal the apostle Paul when he requested it before he set sail to spread the gospel of Christ to the populous around the Mediterranean.
If anyone needed to be in shape before the grind he faced, it was Paul.
But God said “No.” In fact, God gave him an ailment. Paul speaks of it in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
“…Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
“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.”
