“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)
I just finished sharing about the way that God saves, frees and heals. But it wouldn’t be right for me to ignore the fact that sometimes God chooses not to heal physically or emotionally here on earth. Just in my circle of acquaintances and family members, I know of too many children who have suffered with cancer only to lose the fight here on earth. A baby who was born with a heart condition spent only one day outside the walls of the hospital, finally succumbing nine months later after a valiant fight. Babies that never breathed their first breath on earth, being chosen to take their first breath in Heaven instead. An innocent man involved in an accident which left him with physical disabilities as well as a traumatic brain injury, allowing him to struggle everyday with tasks he used to perform with ease. A mother of three leaving her children too soon due to a congenital heart condition, here one minute, gone immediately the next. Alzheimer’s. Friends and family members diagnosed with chronic illness, mental illness, or depression – suffering daily on the inside while they look healthy on the outside.
What about them? Why have they not been healed? After asking God this question for years, here’s my answer. Look to the verse above. The older I get, the more I don’t pretend to know why God does what He does. Why He allows (He allows bad things to happen – the sickness is due to sin and the evil one gets credit for that) some people to suffer more during their time on earth than others. Why some people are entrusted with more than others, gifted more than others, and destined for greatness above others. I do know that He made us – each unique and each with a different set of skills, talents, gifts, and passions. Some of our passions naturally move us toward fields of greatness – medicine, finance, a business sense which enables us to manage corporate companies without batting an eye. Others of us are more gifted in the creative arts, engineering, politics, or law. Still others have a caring nature that leads them to work in daycares, be homemakers, teachers, or nurses. All with varying education and all with varying salary potential.
Is it the same with healing? I do know that everything God does is so that He gets the glory to point people back toward loving Him and being introduced to a relationship with Him. Whether a person chooses that relationship or not is up to each individual, but everything God does is with that goal in mind. He wants everyone to experience a relationship with Him in Heaven for all eternity. That is His heart, His mission, His passion and He wants us to have that goal too. So, then, does God allow some people the “privilege” of sickness, disease, trials, and struggles so that His glory can be shown through their lives? I do know that from everyone I’ve talked to, when trials and sickness and challenges come, we have a choice to either cling tighter to God and let His glory shine through our lives or turn away from God and harden their hearts. Those who cling to Him are heaped with blessings and comfort and a closeness with God that can only come from being in the thick of that war with disease, illness, or specific challenge.
I want to leave you with one last thought: While God may not choose to heal everyone we want to in the way that we want Him to, God does eventually heal everyone. Some here on earth, others not until Heaven, but they are healed. While it’s not my job to understand why and how the God of the universe makes His decisions, it is my job to come to His throne and ask for healing for those I love, those He puts in my path, and those He lays on my heart. Since I don’t know His mind and what His choice is, who am I to not ask for healing for everyone, knowing full well that the ultimate decision of where that person is healed is in God’s hands, not mine? And, really, are there any other hands I would rather entrust my loved one to than His?
© Cheri Swalwell 2015