Connie, my wife, has had a life-threatening rare blood disease for two and a half years. I’m confident God has heard thousands of prayers for her over these years. We believe in divine healing. We have tried to follow the Spirit’s leading each step of the way. We have strong faith in Him and have seen great provisions and indicators that He is monitoring and walking with us through it all. Yet no divine healing of that malady. All this begs the question; why has there not been His healing touch? Just so you know, we haven’t given up!
Despite thousands of prayers, Connie and I have not yet received God’s entire healing touch. Some have experienced His complete healing by going to be with Christ—which Paul says is certainly far better. Others have experienced a miraculous divine healing touch. So, how are we to respond to God’s promise of healing when we have not yet experienced His healing for which we have petitioned? Millenniums of generations have wrestled with this same question.
Connie and I have been so grateful for the host of prayers offered on her behalf, along with meals and such encouraging words. We are humbled by the spiritual lessons we have been learning through this time. While it may sound strange to read, in spite of the hardships, we would willingly go through it again to receive the profound understanding of God and His ways that we have discovered. This reward of a spiritual nature has been extraordinary.
God’s sovereignty has again been confirmed. We don’t have the level of authority we like to think. Whatever authority vested in us is first, delegated (it is not ours to use according to our whim), and second, it must be authorized by His wisdom and foresight. Consider what Dallas Willard said about faith which releases His authority. If faith is something I can have and exercise all on my own, and if faith is as powerful as Jesus said it is, what do you think is likely to happen? The universe would probably be out of control quite rapidly. There would be mountains bouncing around, fig trees withering all over the place, and mulberry trees flying out of the ground and into the sea! God is more concerned with who you are becoming than in what you can accomplish with your faith.
If humans possessed God’s power, man would misuse that power by using it according to his or her every whim. Therefore, God must have the last word about miracles. Only He can see how the request we make to Him will play itself out in our lives or that of others. This relatedness and dependence upon Him leads us to trust Him when He says no (or not now) to our requests.
We must never forget, God says, My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT2) When God does something, His wisdom always trumps our nearsighted whims.
Our goal should be for our faith in Him to shift from subconscious dependency on physical or emotional signs, to total dependence upon the awesomeness, character, wisdom, and love of our God. All anxiety fades and His peace and joy come when your heart speaks as Job when he said, I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance. Job 42:5-6 (NLT2)
Your words have confirmed what I have long believed. God is the arbiter of all our requests and petitions . What is truly good or bad for us is determined by Him, for our benefit. He ALWAYS hears our prayers. How he answers them, is His choice, not ours. And it’s always the best answer.
When we are so self and physically focused, we miss this truth in His word.