A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. … She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” [Mark 5:25,27-28 (NLT)]
In Mark 5, we find three stories of miraculous healings: the demoniac living among the graves in the Gerasenes, the woman who bled for twelve years, and the daughter of Jairus who was brought back to life. These are beautiful stories, but what about all the other people in 2,000 years for whom there has been no healing? Like the woman with the blood disorder, my friend has suffered for more than twelve years, tried every remedy, and gotten no relief. This man of deep faith prays for healing as do all his family and friends. His faith is as strong as that of the nameless woman and yet he’s had no relief.
As the local synagogue’s leader, it’s likely Jairus was one of those in the synagogue who criticized Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. He even might have been with the Pharisees when they accused Jesus of being possessed by Satan. He and his daughter certainly weren’t more deserving than a neighbor’s grandson. Along with the child’s parents and countless others, they knelt before Jesus and begged for the boy’s healing. Nevertheless, in spite of their prayers and five-and-a-half years of treatment, healing never came. We didn’t ask God to raise him from the dead; we just wanted Eddie to live more than his brief eight years!
The bleeding woman and Jairus sought out the Lord but Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and calmed a storm to reach the Gentile demoniac. My uncle was a good man of deep Christian faith but he descended into the hell of psychosis from which he couldn’t escape and, instead of living among the graves, he lived in a state psychiatric hospital. He desperately sought Jesus but, in spite of countless prayers for release from his demons, release only came when he died. Why was the pagan demoniac healed and not my uncle?
If all we needed for healing was sincere faith and fervent prayers, good Christians would never get sick or die—but, they do. Billy Graham suffered from Parkinson’s disease for 25 years and Martin Luther had 24 years of ill-health. Luther’s pain was so crippling that he frequently prayed for death’s relief. Based on existing records, forensic scientists believe Francis of Assisi suffered from malaria, tuberculosis, peptic ulcer, gastric cancer, brucellosis, blindness from trachoma, and leprosy until his death at 44. Among other ailments, John Calvin suffered from kidney stones, painful gout, heartburn and indigestion, chronic facial pain, roundworms, migraines, and chronic insomnia until his death at 55 (probably from tuberculosis). If anyone had a direct line to God’s ear, it would be men like these and the Apostle Paul. Without a doubt, they all prayed for relief but God chose not to remove their many thorns.
Although Jesus taught us that God will respond to our faithful prayers, He never taught us that faith automatically brings about healing. While there are many instances in Scripture where Jesus links faith and healing, there are many others where the healing seems almost random. When we look at His many miraculous healings, there’s no formula to them. In fact, Jesus’ healing seems unrelated to people’s faith. The man healed by the pool at Bethesda didn’t even know Jesus’ name. The only constant is Jesus rather than faith or prayer!
God can and does heal. Whether or not He does so is His sovereign choice and our physical healing may not be God’s top priority! Of the many sick and suffering people crowded around the pool in Bethesda, Jesus healed just one man. The reasons why God restores health to some and not to others is beyond our understanding. Healing is neither evidence of our faith nor proof of God’s love for us and we can’t allow bitterness or anger to fill our hearts when it doesn’t occur. Even for the most faithful, miraculous healings are the exception not the rule! Someday, all sickness and death will be gone but, until then, we must have faith and trust in God.
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace. [Joni Eareckson Tada]
Without a globe, I allowed a random number to decide the nation for which I’d pray this week. Number 19 was Benin and I’m embarrassed to admit knowing nothing about this narrow strip of land in West Africa between Nigeria and Togo. These three nations once were part of the kingdom of Dahomey and it was in Dahomey that the ancient practice of voudon/vodun/vodou (commonly called voodoo) began. Now a republic, Benin is a severely underdeveloped nation, rife with corruption, where the life expectancy for men is just 60! A little over 40% of the population are Christian, nearly 30% Muslim, about 17% practice voodoo, and another 10% follow other indigenous/animistic religions. As a side note, ARDA (The Association for Religion Data Archives) stated that many of those identifying as Christian also practice voodoo.
Pastor Chris recently shared a devotion she read in which the author gives his office globe a gentle spin each morning. After a moment or two, he places a finger on the globe, stops its revolution, and prays for the people wherever his finger lands. Chris said she’s adopted this practice but, to make it more than a quick uninformed prayer, she does some research on the country’s needs and religions to guide her petitions.
Last month we took a driving trip through Virginia and North Carolina to enjoy the fall colors in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. While taking a train ride along the Nantahala River Gorge, we commented on the beautiful vines covering the hillside. Our seat-mate told us this lovely looking plant is a destructive weed called kudzu. Native to Asia, this semi-woody vine was introduced to the U.S. back in 1876 during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Originally advertised as an ornamental plant, kudzu’s ability to grow up to a foot day (and up to 60-feet a year), overtake, grow over, and smother just about anything in its path, has given it a new name: “the vine that ate the South.”
All Saint’s Day for the Western Christian Church is November 1. While Roman Catholic and Orthodox church observances tend to focus on those who’ve been canonized saints, the Protestant church has a different approach to this holy day. Whether living or dead, it regards all Christian believers as “saints” and part of the Communion of Saints we speak of when reciting the Apostles’ Creed. For Protestants, All Saint’s Day is a time to commemorate Christian family members, church members, and friends who have died. At our liturgical church, there will be a solemn reading of the names of all church members who passed during the year. After each name is read, the bell will toll.
Last year, our family rented a lake home in Idaho. Although we never saw our next-door neighbors, we saw their landscaper nearly every day. A robotic lawnmower, it was meticulous about not missing even a small patch of grass on their expansive lawn. About twice the size of our robotic vacuum, this mower puts our little vac to shame. Rather than going in seemingly random circles, it efficiently cut in back-and-forth straight lines. The gizmo never strayed onto the beach, got lost in the shrubbery, banged into lawn furniture, or wandered into our yard! From lakeside to house, it went up and down the slope without slowing down and returned to its charging station when its power ran low. An obedient and hard-working servant, it was on call 24/7 and would have mowed all night if so directed. The mower’s schedule, boundaries, and grass height requirement were controlled by its master’s smartphone! Because that technology came with a hefty price tag, it also came with a built-in-alarm system, GPS theft-tracking, and a pin code.
Devotions of the Heart 