God the Healer
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a story about faith healers.
It’s not often that I feel uneasy in doing television interviews. But there was one I’ll never forget — it made me very uneasy. Now, I don’t need to give the name of the TV host, but suffice to say, our live, televised conversation had not gone well. From the moment the floor director counted down the final seconds and the light on the camera flicked to bright red, I had felt very uneasy. The questions were pointed, abrupt, and one or two, I would almost say were, were rude.
This wasn’t an interview at all. It was more like facing a crafty lawyer. The TV host was trying to get me to say that decades of quadriplegia were a result of my lack of faith. He inferred that I had not prayed enough. Then he inasmuch cross-examined my character, as if to say that there was some unconfessed sin that might be the reason I was still in my wheelchair. No way! I stood firm on Ephesians Chapter 1 and other scriptures that promise that God works everything in accordance with His plan and that often (actually, most often) His plan allows for suffering to continue for reasons that we often cannot understand, but are always wise, specific, and good.
The TV host did not seem impressed. He listened until the interview drew to a close, and then he turned to address the small studio audience as well as the camera, which was a window to who knows how many people were watching at that moment. He explained to his viewers that it was obvious that I had not been healed but they — the viewers — could be healed. With confession of sin and enough faith to believe, they could know what I had not known (nodding toward me). The people in the television audience who obeyed this person’s magic formula could be healed. Before I could jump in, the cameras turned to another segment on the studio stage.
And I could hardly believe it! Had he never read all the times God specifically tells His followers – even followers who have great faith – to expect hardship? And how the sufferings of Christ are supposed to overflow into our lives? And had he never read in Acts Chapter 14 that we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God? And that’s just scratching the surface.
Now, I don’t mean to sound critical and I’m not defaming the body of Christ, but this man may have a big ministry, but I’m sorry, he is wrong. God is God, and it is He and He alone who decides who will be healed and who will not. Yes, faith is vital to everything, and “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” But faith’s focus must always be Jesus — and nobody draws close to Christ who doesn’t first share in Christ’s sufferings. Does God heal? Well of course He does. Every time a broken leg is mended, or a wound gets closed, the flu is behind you, or the surgery is successful all the credit goes to God. One of the names of God is Healer, like we are told in Exodus 15. If any of us gets healed of any ailment, it is God, in Psalm 103, who heals all your diseases. But that does not mean He only relates to suffering by healing it. He also uses it, such as he has done in my life.
There is so much insight into Gospel truth by studying the names of God, such as we did today, looking at ‘God the Healer’. But God goes by other names, too. Like ‘God the Provider’, and ‘God our Helper’. Want to learn more? Well, let me send you my free booklet on “The Names of God”. It’s yours for the asking today at joniandfriends.org/radio. Discover all the many blessings that are in “The Names of God” at joniandfriends.org/radio.
© Joni and Friends
