Dare We Trust God for Our Physical Well-Being?

Note: This contemplation should be read after reading Belief in Two Powers and Should I See a Physician?

We all know that the Scriptures tell us that we were healed by the stripes of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5; 1Peter 2:24) —though the translators substituted the word griefs for diseases in Isaiah 53:4: (KJVS) Surely he hath borne our griefs [Strong 2483: malady, anxiety, calamity: —disease, grief, (is) sick(-ness)]. And we are aware of the extraordinary promises concerning our health and well-being contained in Psalm 91, only one of which is no evil shall befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling (v 10).

We know that Jesus never refused healing to anyone who came to Him; and we know that He said over and over again that we can have whatsoever (which would of course include good health) we ask in His name (see In My Name).

We have no recorded incidents of any of Jesus’ followers dying from illness; on the contrary, they were constantly healing those who were ill, and even raising some of them from the dead. Indeed, even Peter’s shadow (Acts 5:15) and handkerchiefs taken from Paul’s body (Acts 19:12) healed people.

And, before leaving this earth, Jesus said that we would do the works that He did (and even greater works! —(John 14:12)) and gave to us the instructions (and of course the ability) to go into all the world and heal the sick (Mark 16:15-18).

Now let’s look at twenty-first century American followers of Jesus. We hear and read every day of their dying of the most dreadful diseases. Yes, we do hear of Christians being healed, but it is almost always after being treated by a physician. And even those people who were healed most often leave this dimension for the next by way of physical illness. Rarely do we hear of anyone simply entering the next state without pain and suffering.

I thought I had heard that perhaps the minister E. W. Kenyon had exited this dimension without illness. So I stopped writing and went online to find out how he died. I immediately came across a website from Let Us Reason Ministries and an article Death by Faith in which the author cites multiple examples of claims by Faith teachers that are not backed up in their own lives and in the lives of their families. I discovered that Kenyon died in a coma, brought on by a malignant tumor; Hagin’s son-in-law, Buddy Harrison, died of cancer, and so did Jamie Buckingham and Chris Wimber. The author maintains that every other famous faith teacher, including Joyce Meyer, go to medical doctors to get their bodies repaired like anyone else. None of these folks got a miracle or received divine healing directly from the hand of God or themselves. They did what every person with common sense would do, they got medical help. He goes on to cite how many people died needlessly by believing that they were healed by Christian Science or by faith healers. The following quotation is from that article:

For God is able to heal today as he always was able. I believe God heals and that we should pursue healing from him, but not only him. Doctors are a God sent profession. What do you think the Jews did in the OT before Jesus came? They went to doctors. After Jesus left do you think they looked for only healers when they were sick? God does not promise that EVERYONE will be healed if they have faith. So why do some get healed and others not? Because God is gracious and merciful, and it is their time. For whatever reason, only God knows. He has the power to heal at any time, but he has chosen not to all the time. He also has the power to destroy all wickedness, but he has chosen not to. Yet this too is a promise in the Scripture. We know one day he will. So it becomes a matter of timing, not just a matter of faith. It is the same for healing. As Christians we believe in the power of God! Do we actually believe that God can raise the dead? Certainly! The real question is When? The Scriptures are clear in Romans 8:23, We are waiting for … the redemption of our bodies. The Resurrection is connected to the 2nd coming of Christ as stated in 1Corinthians 15. If he resurrects some individuals today, Praise the Lord. If he does not, we still have hope in his promise.

This article represents the orthodox position. If we have common sense, we will always seek the help of a physician when we are ill. God could heal us when we ask, but He doesn’t choose to every time; it may not be His will. We cannot have whatsoever we ask in Jesus’ name. If we should get healed when we pray, it is because God is gracious and merciful and because it is our time to be healed —not because we believed that we had received what we prayed for. It really has nothing to do with us and our knowledge of, or relationship to, God. The promises of Scripture are all for the future. We cannot really count on God for anything here and now. But we know we can count on Him when Jesus comes out of the sky and begins His thousand year reign of peace on this earth. Until then, we must depend on the wisdom of man (scientific expertise) to keep our bodies as healthy as possible; that is our best bet.

You will notice that the writer of this article uses the scientific method to make his case. His proof that we must depend on the medical profession rather than on God is that those who shouted the loudest that they were depending upon God all ended up either dying or enlisting the aid of a doctor to get healed.

But does the fact that these people didn’t experience the fulfillment of God’s promises all the time and perfectly in their lives prove that those promises are not for now? Is this proof that if I am sensible, I can never hear the Spirit of God telling me that I am to put my trust in Him and not go to the doctor?

I would be the first to agree that attempting to get healed by the letter (because the Bible says so) is the surest way to die (for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life —2Corinthians 3:6). Jesus said:

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

As I have written elsewhere (see Belief in Two Powers and Should I See a Physician?), it is what the Spirit inside is telling us that we must act upon, not on what man, or even the Bible, is saying. Until the words of the Bible are spoken to us by the Spirit, they are indeed dead letter and will kill us.

I have nothing against science, medicine or doctors. They are not evil. Paul referred to Luke, a writer of one of the gospels, as the beloved physician (Colossians 4:14). God can, and does, appear to us in doctors. As I’ve said before, it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom of heaven (Luke 12:32) however we can receive it. God has indeed sent us doctors as one means through which we might receive.

But don’t tell me that I haven’t any common sense if I choose to receive the kingdom of heaven directly from God. Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe having common sense does exclude hearing from the Spirit that which goes against the accepted norm.

What is the norm for twenty-first century Americans?

Paul tells us that

1Corinthians 14:10  There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.

Those voices come at us from every direction —the media, our friends and family, professionals in every field, and the pulpit. I see now that here in America in this century of advanced technology, science has become such a god to us that it is next to impossible to view any of its conclusions as merely the wisdom of this world (which is foolishness to God) (1Corinthians 3:19). We are, symbolically speaking, tarred and feathered if we dare believe anything contrary to its findings. If the doctor says I have cancer, I must agree with him (see The Power of Agreement). And I must do the reasonable thing; for to do anything contrary to reason is considered foolishness.

I wonder if any of us could hear this (most unreasonable) explanation for ours or a loved one’s death:

2Chronicles 16:12-13  And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

Asa was one of the good kings, one who did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, even removing his own mother from being queen because she had made an idol (which he destroyed) (1Kings 15:11-13). And, like most good Christians, he had the good sense to seek the physicians rather than the Lord when he became diseased in his feet. Why seek the Lord? Wouldn’t He tell us to do the reasonable thing?

We are more likely to hear, God gives you sense enough to see a physician, than Is God leading you to see a physician? I regret to say that I think most Christians see God as a last resort when all that medical science has to offer us has failed to produce the cure we are seeking. Then we ask for a miracle –for the supernatural intervention of a God out there that we are begging to hear our cries for help. Or we may seek the prayers of some spiritual giant or some prayer chain, thinking perhaps God might respond to numbers or to prayer warriors. Then if everything fails, we conclude that it is our time to go, that it is not God’s will that we (or a loved one) be healed.

I give you permission to accept that as your concept of God; I will not (nor does God) condemn you. But I ask you to consider the possibility that it may not be an accurate concept, that it may be based on fear, not love —the perfect love of God that casts out fear (1John 4:18).

We need to act on the basis of love instead of fear. This is not an appeal for you to stop seeing doctors. It is a plea for you to come into a relationship with the true God that Jesus prayed we would know (John 17:3), a relationship wherein you are always listening for His still small voice inside you and can hear that voice saying, This is the way; walk ye in it (Isaiah 30:21) —even if that way is not the way all the voices of reason are telling you that you must walk.

I feel I must add that when you are in that relationship of love, you will find no need to judge and condemn others, no matter what they believe or don’t believe, no matter what they do or don’t do. You will know that God is fully capable of guiding and correcting His children, however misguided they may be. You will not resist evil (Matthew 5:39), but will rather agree with your adversary quickly (you don’t debate the issue) (Matthew 5:25). For if you judge him, you will be judged (Matthew 7:2) —though not by God (for the Father judgeth no man — John 5:22). Whatever you give comes back to you pressed down and running over (Luke 6:38) —and that includes judgment and criticism.

I conclude by saying that yes, we can trust God —and only God— with our physical well-being. It is God’s will that His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Our inability to receive has nothing to do with God’s willingness to give. It has everything to do with all the false beliefs we have about God (and His relationship to us) which keep us from believing and receiving. The wonder is not that we have received so little; the wonder is that we’ve received anything at all.

When we stop talking and begin to listen to the Spirit of God inside and let Him lead us into truth, when we begin to trust God as a little child trusts its parent and receive that kingdom as effortlessly as a child receives its breakfast every morning, then we will both see and enter that kingdom of abundant life (John 10:10) where our physical well-being isn’t even an issue.