Does GOD Choose NOT To Heal?

Every month or so, I get together with a group of women to talk about life, GOD, and catch up with each other. We're friends who used to all go to the same church but have since moved on or away to other areas. Last night, an interesting topic of debate came up that got me wondering what other Christians might believe on the issue. The discussion question was: Does GOD choose NOT to heal sometimes?

Some of you may be thinking that is a silly question. Some have a hard time believing GOD heals people today anyway. I'd say many Christians believe that GOD heals today, and I'm sure most hold the opinion that there are times when it's not in GOD's will to heal certain people for whatever reason. Everyone has seen or heard of believers who have had a sickness or disability where they have prayed for healing, believed for their healing, and yet they end up dying or they never get their healing. Since that is so common, it's an easy conclusion to say that sometimes GOD just chooses not to heal.

And then there's the other side where the opinion is that GOD always heals so then people who aren't healed are accused of not having enough faith or having some sort of sin issues that prevent them from receiving their healing. It's discouraging to hear "you're not doing enough" when all you want is to get healed and you are already doing all you know to. Ok, then there's the further element of Satan getting in the way, attacking so that you don't receive your healing, and so on top of prayer for healing, people gather around the sick to bind Satan and lose the person to be healed. And then what? If even that doesn't make the person whole - after having the elders lay hands on the sick and pray for them, after confessing and repenting sin, after fasting and eating by a Biblical diet, after believing with your whole being in faith for a healing... and it doesn't happen, what does that mean? Doesn't that lead a person to conclude that sometimes it isn't GOD's will to heal?

All this is life experience - modern American experience at that - and is the exact opposite of what's taught in GOD's Word. We can't base our beliefs in what we see around us, in a fallen world, we must place our beliefs on Scripture and eternal truth. GOD's Word clearly shows that is it GOD's desire that we be healed...

"Fools, because of their rebellious way, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Psalms 107:17-20

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

"Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous can accomplish much." James 5:14-17

"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give."
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 10:8-9 & 28:19-20

"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the LORD of hosts." Malachi 4:1-3

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with loving-kindness and compassion" Psalm 103:2-4

"Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness." Matthew 9:35

"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,... to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit..." 1 Corinthians 12:7-9

"How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble. The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health." Psalm 41:1-3

"And He said, 'If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.'" Exodus 15:26

We've all read these, and there's not a verse to be found where GOD denies healing to one who's requested it. So, why the big gap between GOD's promises and our reality sometimes?

Sin is a factor:

"There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin." Psalm 38:3

Satan is a factor:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

Lack of faith is a factor:

"And Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well..."
"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." Mark 10:51-52 & 11:24

Lack of asking is a factor:

"In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full." John 16:23-24

Obedience is sometimes a factor:

"So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" He answered, 'The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, "Go to Siloam and wash"; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.'" John 9:9-11

Most believers who seek healing deal with all these factors appropriately - so what's the factor that those who get healed know about and those that don't get healed miss? Is the missing factor the fact that GOD simply chooses to heal some but not others - even when both are as valuable to Him, both have dealt with the factors involved in their own lives, both would go on to fulfill faithful purposes for the kingdom, and both healings would bring Him glory? GOD knows the very heart and minds of each of us - He knows and sees what is buried, even from ourselves. Do people who are suffering years and years without healing ask GOD for spiritual sight and wisdom to see what the hindrance is? If so, do they get and deal with the answers? Even if GOD withholds healing for a time (like in Job), isn't that even for the purpose of bringing that person closer to Him and giving that person more victory in the long run? And even so, GOD doesn't leave the person like that for the rest of their life on earth, or allow that person to die, does He?

Death comes to all of us - it's the physical consequence for sin in the world. But sickness and premature death shouldn't exist for believers in a way that it defeats them. Early death from persecution and martyrdom, sure - but not from disease or physical deformities. So why the low percentage rate of healing within the Body of Christ? Maybe there's one more factor...

Lack of an intimate relationship with GOD is a factor:
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." John 15:4-8

Perhaps it's the same reason why the church lacks in power in nearly every area of the Kingdom - we are lukewarm and not as rooted into the Vine as we should be. We are not reading and learning and living by GOD's Word - we are not seeking Him and His righteousness, we are not passionate about kingdom affairs, we are not eagerly desiring the greater gifts, we are not plugged into our spiritual life Source as we should be. We are not spending our time fasting, praying, praying in the Spirit, worshiping and adoring at the feet of Jesus, learning and growing in Him. We are weak because we run to the world for human answers and by the world's standards in lifestyle. We are not taking up our disciplines and responsibilities of being children of THE KING of all the universe, the Lord of every cell and molecule that makes up every physical thing. We have lost our saltiness, our lights are dim - we do not fully trust GOD and we do not fully resemble the Lord we serve yet. We must learn to pick up our true identities in Christ - take up our spiritual gifts and use them without fear - we must put our own agendas under GOD's supreme will! Let us stop speaking out curses (doubts and discouragements) giving power to the enemy, and start speaking out blessings (the Truth of God's Word) and lining our whole lives up with that instead! Let us push deeper into Him and wrap our lives and beliefs around His Word, not the other way around! Let us learn our spiritual gifts, be led in them by the Holy Spirit, and serve each other in the Body of Christ with them! We need to be praying for the Holy Spirit to disperse the gifts of healing out on the church, and we are in need of those who already have this gift to stand up and actively bear fruit with their gift! We need to be willing to pay what it costs to move freely and powerfully in the Spirit with His gifts to us so that we are effecting the world we are in - not being effected by the world!

To purely trust God isn't always easy in some areas - and for some people more than others. We all stumble and doubt at times. I would never look down, blame, or judge a person who called out to God for healing but never got healed - but I will never put it off on GOD either. It is the church as a whole that lacks and has failed when the individual is full of faith, sin has been dealt with, Satan has beaten back, and the prayer and obedience has happened and healing still doesn't come - because GOD is ALWAYS faithful to His Word and loves His children. He has granted us healing in as much as He has granted us forgiveness - we can be just as assured of the one as we are of the other. It is GOD's will to heal us of physical sickness as well as spiritual - we can come boldly before him with thanksgiving, praise and joy along with our humble and heartfelt asking because we know we will be saved! We know GOD desires to heal us, we know He's promised to - we can rest in that knowledge and trust Him. We can trust in GOD to deliver us from all evil when we call out to Him, praying, asking and trusting in Him! It is not in GOD's nature to choose not to heal a believer who asks believing, any more than it is in Him to deny salvation to the sincere person who cries out for forgiveness and salvation. Praise GOD for His grace and mercy!!!