Misunderstood: the Bible on sickness and healing, part 3

Is God able to heal me?  We have been asking some questions about what the Bible teaches regarding sickness and healing. And, I realize these questions aren’t too difficult yet, but they are building on each other, so hang with me. It doesn’t make much sense to ask God to heal if He is not able to heal. And yes, He is able to heal, obviously. While, there are different perspectives on healing, no true Christian, can deny God’s ability to heal. But sometimes, God heals through medicine and through doctors. And, that’s not a lesser healing. Like, 'oh you just got healed by a doctor.' No.  Because, who gave those doctors that brain, and who helped them discover the insights that were needed to give you the medicine that you needed to take? It’s God ultimately, who is behind all that, and so, when you go to a doctor, and that doctor does a good job, you should thank God. It’s not a lesser faith to use doctors. PLEASE!There is nowhere in the Scripture where you are commanded not to go to the doctor or not to take medicine or not to take blood transfusions. You don’t ultimately put your trust in them, of course, like the doctor is god or medicine is god, but you recognize they are his servants, and you are grateful to God He sometimes uses them, to bring about healing. I mean, after all Jesus says, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, and while, his main point there is not to talk about doctors, he kind of just assumes, sick people go to doctors. Though honestly I have to tell you, one reason the Bible probably doesn’t talk too much about doctors is just because medicine in the ancient world, wasn’t at all, what it is today. The truth is there were a lot of people who suffered and died, so that we could have the medicine we have today, so we should be thankful. But that’s not the only way God heals either. Sometimes God heals indirectly through human wisdom, and sometimes God heals directly as a result of prayer. The Bible sees God as the healer, and He has different ways of healing. In Exodus 15:26,Moses says to the nation of Israel.“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, that I put on the Egyptians for I am the Lord your healer.”Now what that’s not saying is that you living in the 21st century obey God you will never get sick. Because this is a specific promise made to Israel that’s related to the role they were supposed to play in the world. And if you wonder what I mean by that, you need to come to the Bible classes we offer throughout the year, but, that’s not a promise you go to, or something you use to say, sickness is because of sin, but, it does tell us that God is ultimately Lord even over sickness, and that God is able to supernaturally, intervene and heal. And there are examples throughout the Old Testament, of God doing that, and many more examples, in the New Testament of Him doing that through Jesus and the apostles.But unfortunately, sometimes people think because God did that in the Bible, He always is going to do it, that same way, today. And that’s just not real. Question number 4. If I can be sad about being sick and I can even want to be healed and I know God is able to heal, should I expect that God will always heal me? And this is maybe where things get more controversial. Because. The short answer is, NO. You shouldn’t expect that God will always heal you. If you pray, God you can heal me, if that’s your will, that doesn’t mean you have less faith. It just means you recognize, it’s not always God’s will to heal. And that’s kind of obvious, because, every single person that wrote God used to write the Bible, died. And they didn’t all die, because they lacked faith, or because they were in personal sin. Either. Which. Is the short answer.In our next post on this issue, I will try to give the longer answer.