Illness—both chronic and acute—have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s impacted the choices I’ve made and paths I’ve taken (or been forced not to take). It has robbed me of countless things I enjoy in life, such as activities, time with others, being the mom, wife, and friend I desire to be, simple pleasures, and countless opportunities. But more than anything, it’s caused me to wrestle with why Jesus so often healed those who came in search of his healing hand, but has chosen not to answer my cries for such healing.
If you’ve battled any kind of lengthy illness or pain, you’ve most likely had one or more well-intentioned people assure you that your healing has already been purchased by the blood of Jesus—you just have to claim it as yours through prayers of faith.
Often, the healings we see in the New Testament are what people use as the basis of their claim, that all will be healed on earth through Jesus if you truly believe. However, what that misguided claim is really saying is this: you have the power within yourself to claim your own healing. You can wield the name of Jesus, who sacrificed himself for your eternal healing, to instead bend God’s will to your own desire for temporal healing – which Jesus never promised us on this side of heaven.
Jesus made it clear to us why he often did miracles on earth. It was for the sake of those around him, “so that (they) may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Jesus’ earthly miracles were a means to an end – meant to lead people to a deeper healing—one of the heart. If Jesus only came to heal the body, and that’s what we think our greatest need is, then we will miss the greater purposes of God at work to bring about a deeper, lasting healing that this world cannot take.
As good it sounds on the surface, the “health and wealth gospel” actually cheapens what Christ did on the cross. It uses Jesus’ horrendously painful sacrifice on the cross to serve our own temporary desires (even when they’re good ones), as if that was the chief purpose of the Jesus death and resurrection. But Jesus clarified the ultimate purpose of his earthly healings when he said, “For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’, he told the paralytic, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.’ When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and gave glory to God, who had given such authority to men”(Matthew 9:5-8). The physical healings he did on earth showed his power, but it was meant to point people to the power and authority he had to heal souls by forgiving sin—the greatest work of healing that only God himself could accomplish.
If we view our illnesses and pain as something Jesus has promised to heal by twisting verses like, “By his stripes we are healed”, then we set ourselves up for our faith being rocked if God doesn’t bring healing in our timing or way, leading us to question his love for us in the process.
Consider with me for a moment: If Jesus has promised physical healing to all who “declare that their healing has already been purchased by Christ’s blood”, no believer would ever die. We would simply just keep “claiming our healing” that’s ours through Jesus. Every ailment that would come our way would have to heal if that’s truly what he had promised and what his sacrifice was meant to accomplish.
Can he heal us if he chooses to? Yes! Does he at times? Yes, by his grace, he sometimes grants physical healing, even in miraculous ways. But it will always be for the purpose of also working a deeper healing at the heart level—learning dependence and trust on him and his timing.
But the truth is, it’s often God’s severe mercy not to grant every prayer for relief and healing because he intends to redeem that healing as a tool that chisels away at our earthly way of thinking, drawing us to know more of his heart, rather than only seeking his miraculous hand in our life. He gradually opens our eyes to greater revelations that make us more like Christ and prepare us for our lasting home, rather than elongating our temporal enjoyments of this fading one.
Does the heart of Jesus want to comfort, heal, and bless his children? Yes. We see that all throughout scripture. But his love for us is so much greater than our temporary and short-sightedness can grasp, that he’s willing to temporarily restrain his desire to free us from pain when he knows the eternal gain will far outweigh the temporary relief. And yet, even in that truth, we can’t miss the heart of a Father who doesn’t willingly grieve his children.
As Joni Eareckson Tada said, “God sometimes permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”
God hates for his children to suffer. But at times, just like Jesus’ death on the cross, he allows the pain that grieves him for the greater purposes at work through the pain. Just as there was a greater work to be done through the cross, rather than around it, there is sometimes a greater work to be done through our suffering than around it.
Pray earnestly and honestly to your Heavenly Father for your earthly healing if it be his will, because he truly knows and wants what is best for you. And pursue your healing with all the resources that God has graciously provided in this world. But as you wait, and if you don’t see that healing come in your timing or way, know without a doubt that God is allowing something he hates (seeing us suffer), only for the sake of accomplishing something he loves, a deeper healing that this world can never take.
Home (and full healing) is around the corner,
Sarah
To read more on this topic and more ways that Jesus meets us in our humanity, grab a copy of the newly released book, Jesus Will Meet You There: Finding Strength and Comfort in the Savior Who Understands
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