I receive so many letters from people who are struggling with blindness, or whose baby was born with a severe handicap. And, I tell you, my heart aches with each letter. A woman named Linda recently wrote that she had taken her little boy with brittle bone disease to a healing crusade. And even though she and her husband prayed, nothing happened at that crusade. It has been quite a while and their child is still struggling with this painful disability.
In her letter to me Linda confessed that whole thing nearly shipwrecked her faith. But it’s true, even though many wonderful Christians pray in great faith, many eyes will stay blind. Many babies will die at birth. Many cancers will not be eradicated until that ultimate healing of a new body and a new life in Christ’s presence. And many paraplegics and quadriplegics like me will never regain the use of legs or arms or hands that don’t work.
Friend, the Bible does not teach that God will always heal those who come to Him in faith. He sovereignly reserves the right to heal or not to heal as He sees fit. Even when Jesus walked the earth only a small number of people— those who happened to be in His immediate vicinity—were healed. He fed 5,000 and He fed 4,000, but many in Israel were still hungry. Jesus drove out demons wherever He went, but many demons remained entrenched. Jesus raised several from the dead, but only a few.
In fact, I told Linda to look at the first chapter of Mark's Gospel. After word spread throughout Capernaum about Jesus healing Simon's mother-in-law, I mean the whole town brought their sick and lame outside of Simon's home. Long after sunset, Jesus was still there healing people with diseases and illnesses. And then it says the next day very early in the morning, those people returned, bringing more friends more relatives who needed healing. But Jesus was nowhere around. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him in some solitary far off place praying, they said to him, "Jesus, everyone is looking for you!"
Now, you would think Jesus would jump to his feet, gather up his robe and go running back down the hill. But not so because if you read Mark 1:38, you can almost picture Him rising slowly to his feet, dusting off his robe, and then replying after a moment's thought, "Let us go somewhere else -- to the nearby villages -- so I can preach there because this is why I have come."
Linda has begun to see that God is a lot higher, a lot bigger, a lot more holy and sovereign than she ever realized. And for her, that’s okay. She is learning that her God is in control – not only for the good of a little boy who still has brittle bone disease, but it’s for her good as well. And for Linda, that’s good enough.
AL: Joni, you know what? I think Linda needs a special invitation to come to a Family Retreat this month – one is starting this week in Texas…
JONI: I’m so glad you thought of that. Al, you’re right, and you know what, we’ve got lots of other family retreats spread across the country and some of them have some openings…
AL: You know, it would be nice then to get an invitation off to Linda, her husband, and their little boy with brittle bone disease – because at Family Retreat there’s a deeper, greater healing in store…
JONI: Oh, boy. Al, we’ll make it happen!
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JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
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