I left Tophimus sick in Miletus. — 2 Timothy 4:20
… Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. — 2 Timothy 1:12
I believe in healing. Yet sometimes people aren’t healed.
My daughter was born with birth defects. I prayed and believed God for a miracle. I sat in the waiting room of the hospital praying and believing for supernatural healing. But, five hours later, as I propped her bloodstained cast on a pillow, I looked into the eyes of my six-month-old baby girl, eyes dulled by pain and confused by an experience she couldn’t understand.
Why didn’t God heal her? She’s been through two surgeries and, apart from God’s intervention, may need more later in life.
How do we deal with that?
Let me explain that I’m not really writing about healing. I’m writing about doubt, confusion and struggles. I’m writing about not understanding God.
Some people will look at my story and say, "God doesn’t heal supernaturally any more." Others will say, "It just wasn’t God’s will." Others will say, "You didn’t have enough faith," or "There was sin in your life."
None of these explanations satisfy me. I believe God still cares about people who suffer. The Jesus who went around healing people hasn’t changed — He still wants to heal, and He remains perfectly capable of healing. And just because someone doesn’t get healed doesn’t mean that they are at fault. Maybe they did everything right. And, yet, the healing didn’t come.
So where does that leave me? It leaves me with a question that I’m not smart enough to answer.
Here’s the point: If we are honest, and if we live long enough, we will come to questions that we can’t answer. What does that mean? It means that God trusts us enough to trust Him with things we don’t understand. And there is a quietness that comes when we release the reins and let God be God.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.