Does God Always Heal?

Does God always heal his children or take away what afflicts them? It’s a difficult question because we know of Paul, who was a faithful, fruitful, and powerful witness for Christ, and yet his thorn in the flesh remained even if he asked the Lord to take it away. Personally, I know of committed Christians who died because of sickness and disease, even if they prayed and their families prayed hard for God to cure them.

So does God always heal? We know he can, and he is able to relieve us of our physical sufferings, to remove our pain and what ails us. He can certainly do that. However, the truth is he doesn’t always do so, not physically, at least.

My brother challenged me one evening, while he listened to me express my frustrations over this idea of God and healing. “What if we thought of ourselves more accurately, as spiritual beings who just happen to have a body, then perhaps we wouldn’t put so much emphasis on what happens to us physically.”

He was right, but I didn’t like it when he said it at the time, when I was dealing with my recovery from surgery, wrestling with many unknowns and feeling like my future health was bleak. However, now that I have spent more time pondering on the reality that we are spiritual beings more than we are physical beings, I am convinced that God heals everyone who trusts in him for their salvation.

This morning I read this passage again: “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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 53:4-5 NASB)

The passage says we ARE healed because it’s referring to the healing of our souls from sin. God loves us so much, he gave us the healing that matters most. Years of physical pain versus an eternity of suffering and separation from God because of sin? The latter is undeniably worse.

Therefore, does God always heal his children? The answer is he already has, in Christ, and through the cross. If he removes all the physical problems that we go through then that’s the bonus bit, but if he doesn’t, we can still cling to the truth that he has lovingly healed us. We are healed.

1 thought on “Does God Always Heal?

  1. Hi Joy, I’ve been blessed by your many post on this blog and I hope to be a blessing to you to. From this day may you know that God is not only concerned about your soul but in your bodily afflictions as well.

    Isaiah was just speaking not only about our healing of our soul from sin. It was also talking about healing of our sicknesses as well. Matthew 8 pointed out the manner in which Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 53:4

    Matt 8 (KJV)
    16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

    17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities G769, and bare our sicknesses.

    According to Strong’s concordance:
    Infirmities G769
    Strong’s Definition: From G772; feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady ; moral frailty: – disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.

    Isaiah 53
    4 Surely he hath borne our griefs H2483, and carried our sorrows H4341: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

    5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace H7965 (Shalom) was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

    Griefs H2483
    Strong’s Definition: From H2470; malady, anxiety, calamity: – disease, grief, (is) sick (-ness).

    Sorrows H4342
    Strong’s Definition: From H3510; anguish or (figuratively) affliction: – grief, pain, sorrow.

    Peace (Shalom) H7865
    Strong’s Definition: From H7999; safe, that is, (figuratively) well, happy, friendly ; also (abstractly) welfare, that is, health, prosperity, peace: – X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X greet, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace (-able, -ably), prosper (-ity, -ous), rest, safe (-ly), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.

    Jesus loves you very very much. The very hairson your head are numbered by God. Matt 10. It is Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy. John10:10

    May His Shalom (peace) be with you.

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