“If your faith was strong enough, you’d be healed.” Years ago, I read these words (written by a friend) as I languished in a hospital bed. This morning, I saw them written as a comment on social media to a woman battling metastatic cancer. Putting the best possible construction on intent, I can imagine that someone saying such words means well. They want healing for another person. They’ve misplaced the power, though. It’s not one’s faith that holds power over healing, it’s the object of one’s faith. Read below to see my thoughts regarding Christian suffering, faith, and healing.
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW PEOPLE TO SUFFER?
God did not create humanity to suffer. He created us to live in a perfect creation, to walk with him, to be in a relationship with him. But in that perfect creation, he also gave us free will. He gave us the ability to make choices, and with that ability, humanity chose to be like God. Adam and Eve chose to have a knowledge of good and evil. With that knowledge came sin.
God, our father and creator, is a good and just God. He allows natural consequences to sin. Sickness is one of those consequences. Suffering is another. Because our world is broken by sin, the very design of God’s creation is fractured. Sickness and suffering are an inescapable result of sin. Humanity cannot escape them. God has promised to renew his creation, to make it what it once was. He will make a perfect world one day. He will fix all of the brokenness that exists in creation. But until then, we live in a splintered reality. We cannot escape or avoid sin, sickness, and suffering. We can only place our trust in the one who came to conquer it all.
DOES GOD ALWAYS ANSWER PRAYER?
I’m currently reading I’ve Seen the End of You by W. Lee Warren. In this book, a neurosurgeon wrestles with what he knows about the human brain and prayer. When he sees an MRI that reveals a glioblastoma, he says he knows the outcome for 100% of his patients. They will die. Soon. He thinks to himself, “I’ve seen the end of you.” But as a Christian, he prays. What, then is he to pray for? Healing? He’s never seen it happen with a glioblastoma. Is he to pray for the patient to get better, even though he knows it won’t happen? Is he to pray for a miracle? I LOVE this book and the way the author presents his journey to understand prayer.
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As a child, I learned that God answers every prayer. Every single one. It’s just not always the answer we want. God can answer a prayer in three ways. He can say YES, NO, or NOT RIGHT NOW. The YES is a very clear answer. The NO and NOT RIGHT NOW can often be confused. Waiting for clarity is hard. And if the answer is indeed confirmed as a NO, it can be even harder to understand why.
I believe the most important thing is to pray, if it be your will. Heal me, if it be your will. Help me to understand my suffering, if it be your will. Allow my life to continue, if it be your will. When we submit to the will of God, we find a greater peace, whether the answer be YES, NO, or NOT RIGHT NOW.
SHOULD I EXPECT GOD TO HEAL ME BECAUSE I’M A CHRISTIAN?
God can heal any ailment. We have evidence of that in the Bible. He can even bring life and breath back to the dead. Why, then, does he not heal every Christian? This is one of those questions we can’t answer clearly. God has a plan. He sees all events for all people outside of time itself. We look at one person’s life and think, “Surely healing is the best thing for this Christian,” but God’s plan, his ways, are sometimes (often) beyond what we can understand.
In John 16:33, Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” He acknowledges the suffering and hardships that Christians face, but he points us back to himself. Jesus Christ overcame the world. He conquered death. We are to take heart in his victory, because ultimately that victory is for us.
God may heal a Christian from sickness and suffering. He may not. That does not make him “good” or “bad.” It is not a commentary on his heart. His love is unshakeable. It is undeniable. It is for you and for me. Healing does not sit on a scale opposed to love. God can love immensely and yet answer NO when someone prays to be healed. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” He sees all, knows all, and loves you and me through it all.
DOES THE STRENGTH OF MY FAITH MATTER TO MY HEALING?
This is a big question. It goes back to the woman who wrote to me while I was in the hospital. She wrote, “If your faith was strong enough, you’d be healed.” Nowhere in scripture does God promise to heal everyone of every earthly ailment. Many times in the New Testament, after healing someone, Jesus says, “your faith has made you well,” but it’s not the faith itself that matters. It’s the object of faith. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. He holds power. His perfection, his sacrifice, his grace, cover us completely. Through him, we are healed of our sin.
The truth is, we are not promised earthly healing from every sickness or ailment. Even Christians suffer in this world. We ARE promised eternal life through faith in the one who is strong enough to overcome death itself.
The strength of our faith is not a source of power. The object of our faith (Christ) holds the power to heal, and more importantly, the power to save.
HOW SHOULD I VIEW CHRISTIAN SUFFERING, FAITH, AND HEALING?
As a Christian, I encourage you to view suffering as a trial of this earthly life. When we die, we will not face suffering ever again. We will be made new and perfect when the Lord comes again to perfect his creation. Our faith is strong when the object of our faith is strong. Hold Jesus as the perfect and true object of salvation. Healing may come in this life. When it does, celebrate and thank God. When it doesn’t, trust that God’s love is still for you. His plan is good and right and for your good, even if you don’t understand it this side of heaven.
