JoAnn Sampson, a good friend of our family, faced a frightening operation last week. Two years ago she had a large, malignant mass removed from her stomach. That operation was followed by a series of nasty chemo treatments that resulted in horrible periods of nausea for her.
Jo Ann Sampson
After the treatments she enjoyed a year of good health. But several weeks ago JoAnn learned the cancer had resurfaced and she needed to have a portion of her colon removed. Chances were that would probably result in a colostomy (hopefully temporary), followed by additional chemo treatments.
The prognosis sounded so intimidating that JoAnn considered foregoing the operation and just trusting God and letting nature take its course. She said tearfully, “I’m ready to go meet the Lord if that’s His will.” The doctor persuaded her there was a good chance she could recover and have a quality of life, so she agreed to the surgery.
John and JoAnn Sampson have a lot of Christian friends. We all started praying that JoAnn’s surgery would go well, that she would recover quickly and be able to attend her granddaughter’s wedding this spring.
Following the surgery, we were thrilled with the physician’s report. It was better than we asked or imagined. He was able to remove the malignant section of the colon and reattach it without the need for a colostomy. The other parts of the stomach where x-rays had revealed cancer spots were much less significant than anticipated.
That night her husband John texted me, “Miracles abound today. Dr. agreed it was a miracle from God!! He was prepared to see small spots on her organs that were seen on the scans. He could not find!!! Everything just fell into place. What was supposed to be a 3 hour surgery was finished in 2 hours. I can’t tell you how blessed and happy I feel. Our God is mighty!! Our God is merciful!! Our God is love!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your friendship and for that mighty prayer warrior Judy Russell!! I will never forget this day. God revealed Himself to me today.”
Obviously John and JoAnn Sampson are ecstatic. Their family is rejoicing. Their Christian friends are rejoicing and we are all thanking God for His answered prayer and His healing power.
The Sunday before JoAnn’s surgery, my wife and I attended the New Day Christian Church in Port Charlotte, Florida where my son Rusty is the preacher. His sermon that Sunday was on “Jesus –the Healer.” (Watch it on Vimeo here) In the message he quoted Dr. Dennis Pruett, a well-known medical missionary to Zimbabwe who suggested that God heals in three ways:
1) Regenerative (Natural): God created our body to heal itself; daily it wards off potential disease, heals itself from wounds, infections and injuries. (Don’t you wish our cars would repair themselves?) God deserves the credit because He created this marvelous body to regenerate itself!
2) Reconstructive (Technological): This is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. God allows the scientific advancement that man has discovered to bring healing to the body (medicine, surgeries, chemotherapy etc.). Again God deserves the credit because He is the author of all knowledge and the giver of every good gift.
3) Restorative (Supernatural): Sometimes God touches us and miraculously heals us. God does it without any involvement from us. There is no human explanation. This is the method that gets the most press because it’s miraculous and unexplainable. God deserves the credit because only He can perform miracles.
Rusty suggested that when we pray for healing, we should pray that God would heal in any one of those three ways. But remember if the person does get well, no matter what the circumstances might be, God deserves the credit for the healing.
Good stuff! But I think it’s helpful to consider a fourth way that God heals:
4) Resurrection (Eternal): Not everyone receives a dramatic, earthly answer to prayer like JoAnn Sampson did. The same week we received the good news about JoAnn, another friend informed us that her sister had just died. Their family and friends also prayed for healing but she did not recover. Did God not answer that prayer? Did friends and family not have enough faith or pray with enough intensity?
Those of us who are believers need to remember that we’re not promised God will always heal us if we just believe and pray fervently. If He did, no Christian would ever die. It’s not that we lack faith or that the person who dies didn’t believe strongly enough. God chooses to make some people physically well but in His Sovereign will He allows others to die so they will be made perfect for eternity.
First Corinthians 15:51-52 promises, “Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” God doesn’t promise to heal everyone physically. But God does promise to give us new resurrected bodies in which there will be no pain, no sorrow, no tears, no decay and no death.
So while God chooses to make some people well temporarily on earth, He chooses to make others perfect eternally in heaven. That means praying Christians can’t lose. God is going to heal us one way or another. That may sound like circular logic or a cop-out to a skeptic. But to those who know the Lord Jesus, it sounds like hope. To us it’s called faith…faith in the ultimate goodness of a God who has already demonstrated the power to conquer the grave in Jesus Christ.
That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, “…Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:18-21).
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