Faith and Healing

As a doctor I am blessed to see God’s healing every day. Seeing an injured or ill person find healing is a powerful experience and one that strengthens my faith in God. People of faith often show extraordinary trust in God’s presence with them when illness befalls them or a loved one. I believe their faith plays a role in the healing process.

But what about those individuals and families who have great faith but are not healed? Is something in their faith lacking? Are they being punished for some grievous sin? Our scripture verse from the Gospel of John suggests that Jesus’ disciples thought so. But I don’t believe our loving God acts in that way. His love for us is unfailing. He feels our suffering. And we can have hope that ‘[God] will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).

I have learned that while healing is certainly a gift from God, the absence of physical healing does not indicate the absence of God or a lack of faith on the part of his beloved children. No matter what the outcome is, God walks with us and strengthens us.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for always being with us, even in the darkest of times. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen