I am so thankful for my daughter Kimberlyn’s great report from the doctors at St. Jude’s (Memphis). Kimberlyn is cancer-free, and her shoulder has full range of motion. I am still a bit surprised by how emotional I am about her last visit. Talking about it today with staff and students at Valley Fellowship Christian Academy, I can feel the tears rising up in my eyes. At lunch, my wife teased me saying, “You cry after the whole thing is done.” Apparently, Patti is right. At least my tears are happy tears. Thank you, Lord, for carrying us through this struggle.
God is infinite and I am finite. My finite mind will never be able to understand Him completely. God heals, yet I have arduously toiled with the enigma of sickness and disease. The paradox of why all are not instantly healed is beyond the ability of my finite mind. I like to know it all, understand it all, see it all, but healing does not fit into a simple package.
I trust God, but I don’t understand why one person is healed instantly, another progressively, and another not on earth. My younger brother is a great example of God’s continued help, but no instant healing. My mom and dad prayed for brother’s eyes from the time he was a baby. Barry got his first glasses at sixteen months and the doctors said he would be totally blind by the time he was in second grade. Well, Barry is in his forties and is still seeing, but our family continues to pray for his eyes.
Barry’s experience is starkly contrasted with a woman named Georgian for whom my parents prayed after a Friday night Bible study at our house. Earlier on that Friday, the doctors told Georgian that the holes in her retinas would permanently blind her in less than two weeks. Already she was wearing the thickest lenses I had ever seen. Dad and mom laid hands on her, prayed, then Dad paused and asked her how was her sight. Georgian said her limited vision was worse – everything was blurry. Dad suggested taking off the glasses, and BOOM! Georgian’s eyes had been totally healed.
God healed her instantly. My brother continues to walk out his healing day by day. The same couple (my parents) that prayed for years for my brother prayed for just a moment with Georgian. Same God, same faith, same area of the body, same people praying, but different results.
Twenty years ago, I prayed for a man dying of cancer that honestly I didn’t really expect to be healed on earth. I remember leading him to a personal relationship with Christ and praising the Lord that he would likely be seeing Jesus face-to-face pretty quickly. But, God had other plans. A few weeks later, the cancer was gone and the doctors declared him to be in full remission. He still hasn’t had that heavenly face-to-face encounter.
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I am forty-seven years old, have prayed for healing, have seen God heal many people, but there is much about the tension between healing now and sometimes not till heaven that I am still trying to grasp.
Jesus’ earthly ministry is a display of the kingdom of God. The Gospels tell of Jesus teaching with authority (Matt. 7:28-29; Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37). His words penetrate truth and His miracles testify of the power of God. His listeners have reason to believe that the kingdom is at hand. Jesus endures the daily challenges and realities of living, yet He reaches out to hurting, harassed, and hungry people.
Jesus causes an intersection between this world and the kingdom of God. Jesus publicly proclaims the establishment of the kingdom (Luke 11:20), yet tension remains. The disparity between the kingdom of God as already here and the kingdom of God not yet manifested, confronts my inadequate human perspective. I am limited and cannot comprehend the mystery of an unlimited God.
However, Scripture contains a clear mandate for me pray for sick people and expect God’s miraculous manifestation. As I survey the healing accounts within the Bible, my faith is stirred to once again allow myself to be a channel for God’s healing power. Even if I never completely understand the “whys” and “how comes,” I will do my best to operate in faith and in the belief that God wants me to expect healing.
Power encounters mixed with public proclamation certainly help to communicate the message of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus combines the proclamation and demonstration of the kingdom of heaven (Mark 1:21-39). Matthew chronicles the extraordinary miraculous power of Jesus Christ the Messiah. After illuminating the astonishment of the crowd (Matt. 7:28-29), Matthew underscores Jesus’ exousia by recounting the cleansing of the man with leprosy, the releasing of the centurion’s servant, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and the calming of the Galilean storm (Matthew 8). The teaching ministry of Jesus naturally flows into His healing ministry. Jesus’ example stirs me to step out in faith. I need to preach and minister like Him. Hopefully, my sermons will not only exegete the Scriptures but will also provide opportunities to flow into healing ministry.
