I spent a bit of time reading in my Bible today. I was wondering about how God heals us… how He uses supernatural powers when He decides to, but He also sometimes chooses to heal us slowly, naturally, much as a tree heals itself from a cut in its bark. Knowing both sides of the healing coin are true, I wondered where doctors and medicine fit into the picture.
Being a lover of The Strong’s Concordance, I pulled my hefty beast of a book off the shelf and spread it on the kitchen table. I looked up “physicians.” Most of the verses were simply narratives of various characters who needed the services of a doctor. However, a few verses stuck out to me today:
“In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from YHVH, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers” (2 Chronicles 16:12-13).
This verse is a reminder to me that in our diseases, we are to seek God first. Physicians are simply tools in the Master’s hand, but healing belongs to our God.
If a tree’s bark heals, all the other trees of the forest would certainly know that it was God that healed the tree and not the tree’s inner wisdom nor the land owner’s intelligence. How often do we fail to acknowledge the silent role God plays in our every day lives? His providence. His compassion. His amazing design of our bodies.
Like the woman with the issue of blood, who had suffered many things of many physicians (Mark 5:26), do we reach out with arms of faith to touch a compassionate God?
“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up…” (James 5:14-15).
Amen.
So timely for me… My body has been in a fight with cancer for a little over 2 yrs. now. I had surgery to remove the tumor but other than that… it’s been all nutrition, supplements, etc. Even though on the scans there is ‘progression of disease’ I know that FOR ME, battling this way has been the only option. My husband and I sought God’s desire from the beginning on what to do and He spoke very clearly to both of us to allow my body to work the way HE designed it to. I don’t know entirely what the future holds for me, but God does and we continue to seek HIS guidance for treatment. God is faithful to provide us with wisdom on where we need to turn and what we need to do, but we must turn to him first.
Amen, Eileen… We’ll be praying for you! (((hugs)))