What About Those That Don't Get Healed?
I reported recently about praying for a brother in Christ who had a rotator cuff injury and had a very painful shoulder. As I prayed, both my hand and the man’s shoulder became very warm. I sensed “something” (electricity?) go through my arm and hand and into his shoulder. After prayer, he had no pain and had full range of motion in his shoulder.
When I reported this to a group of people I was online with, one of the women on the call spoke up (I’m grateful she did!) and was disturbed. She had been praying for two friends with cancer. One has died and the other is on his deathbed. She was frustrated - why would God heal a rotator cuff and not heal her friends?
My first response to her was that I greatly appreciated her sharing her frustration. My second response was an apology. I apologized if I came across as someone who sees everyone healed. I do, indeed, want to celebrate every healing our Lord performs, “great” or “small.” However, I also am very quick to admit that there are many, many occasions in which the person I pray for isn’t healed . . . at least when we pray for them. Perhaps I (we?) need to report our “failures” in praying for the sick as well as our “successes.”
This interaction brought up a related question: why AREN’T people healed when we pray? My first answer is
”because we are still in school.” We are still on the learning curve. On the one hand, I read, over and over again, in the gospels something like “and the sick were brought to Him and He healed them all.” Jesus showed us the Father (John 1:18; John 14:9). If it isn’t the Father’s will for us to be healed, then why does the Holy Spirit give to the church “gifts of healings” (1 Cor. 12:9)? Why does James instruct those who are sick to call for the elder to pray for healing (James 5:14, 15)? Why does he instruct all believers to “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed (James 5:16)?
If it is the Father’s will for us to be healed then why aren’t we? I believe it is because we are still learning how to both exercise faith and learning how to pray. I have been, for several years, composing a list of why people aren’t healed when we pray. Here is the running list -
There is no faith “environment.” Even Jesus couldn’t do much in His own hometown because of their unbelief (Matt. 13:58). He often commended people who were healed about their faith (“Your faith has saved/healed you”). He chastised His disciples for not healing the epileptic boy with faith (Matt. 17:20). However, a few times, the only person around who had faith was Jesus Himself (how about the raising of Lazarus?).
Ongoing or unconfess sin is present. Remember James 5:16 quoted above? Many times our physical ills are connected to sin/sins (ask the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 11:28-30).
There is disunity in the body of Christ. Although our God is merciful and heals in spite of this condition, if there is backbiting and gossip and oneupmanship in the body it can impede healing.
We pray but don’t pray for the right thing. A person presents themselves for pray for a physical problem and we jump right in to pray for it. The physical problem may very well be tied to or the result of a sourish or spiritual problem.
We assume God always heals instantly. The ten lepers Jesus healed got healed after He pronounced healing and while they were on their way (Luke 17:14). When we assume this, we often stop praying too soon.
We don’t seek God wholeheartedly. We have wrong motive in praying (i.e. we want other to see what “powerful men and women of God” we are!).
There is always a need for “body ministry.” What I mean by this is that I may be praying for healing for someone but the Holy Spirit wants to use someone else to pray. There are a variety of gifts in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:4-10).
It’s not God’s timing. When Peter and John healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate in Jerusalem (Acts 3), it says that he had been lame “from his mother’s womb” and “whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple.” If he was there every day and Jesus walked in and out of that gate several times during the days of HIs earthly ministry, don’t you think Jesus would have healed him? There was a better time that brought more people into the kingdom of God and brought more glory to God.
The last reason is the big one - I DON’T KNOW! Many times I have tried to “cover the bases” of the other 8 reasons. Still the person isn’t healed. All I can say is: I don’t know why they weren’t healed. I still know God is loving. I still know I can trust Him . . . even when I don’t understand.
I must conclude with saying that I’m convinced, after intentionally praying for the sick for close to 40 years, that God ALWAYS does something when we pray. And, I can also say, praying for the sick is always a way to love them.
Hope this helps!!!