What the God

Written by KC Procter

There are a lot of sick people. I don't know the number off hand, but if you count how many died since you started reading this blog post it's about 13 already which equates to about 55 million a year. And that is just dying, not even catching a cold or being diagnosed with cancer.

Fortunately for some God intervenes miraculously and PRESTO! no more sickness. Now it could be argued that God accomplishes this through gifted doctors, modern medicine and simple "prompting" folks to live and eat healthier. But I digress.

The question isn't "how does God heal some people?", but rather "why does God heal some people?". Which of course begs another question, why doesn't God heal some people?

First, I'd like to explore why Jesus healed people - ya know, back in the day:

Good for the Ratings

Nothing boosts a leader's public image like a solid "rise and walk" routine. Jesus probably was eye-balling the crowd for a sickly soul while telling a parable for just this reason. "Bless those who curse you..." (oh! right there in the 50th row, 3 stones from the left - that little girl on crutches. Jackpot!)

Trying to Appease Unruly Mobs

It's a well known fact a number of the disciples worked as Christ's bodyguards. Don't believe me? Google it. I mean seriously, you think a couple of fisherman aren't gonna know how to throw down? Anyway, even a handful of brutish sailors can't fend off an audience of 5,000. I can see Jesus strategically assessing the situation and just sprinting through a tense crowd in a bee-line, hands out to his sides and touching as many people as possible, sick or not. The ones who weren't sick probably got an energy boost similar to 3 cases of Red Bull. Jesus gives you wings!

Leprosy is Nasty

You can't tell me that if you had the power to heal and someone w/ a decrepit skin/bone disorder crossed your path that you wouldn't heal them just so you didn't get grossed out.

Blind People Bumping into Him

Apparently the "bible times" were riddled w/ blind people everywhere. Jesus did a lot of walking around so it stands to reason that, on more than one occasion, a visually impaired citizen would quite literally run into Christ. Being the Son of God and all gracious and merciful, He was probably really cool with it the first 10 times. But that 11th time...

(Paraphrased from Matthew 8) 

JC: "And so blessed are those who.."  

[Bump]

JC: "Ouch! Dang it!" (Jesus didn't swear because when He said "damn it" things died) 

Blindy: "Oh, I'm so sorry, Sir. I didn't see you there." 

JC: "That's enough of this tripping crap!"  

[Spit]

JC: "See anything now?!" 

Blindy: "Sorta, but it's all fuzzy."  

[Prayer]

JC: "How about now?" 

Blindy: "Holy Moses! This is incredible. I can SEE!" 

JC: "Why does he get credit? Whatever, now get out of here and stop tripping people. And don't tell anyone I spit on you."

Now, why does God heal some people and not others?  Here are a couple of possibilities:


1. He doesn't have time. If God exists outside of time (referencing the whole "a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day" bit from The Book) then it could be argued He doesn't have any. Mull over that one with your noodle for a bit.

2. It's completely arbitrary. Since God is so smart He knew there'd be billions (or is it trillions now?) of sick people over the eons needing to be healed of this or that so He created a very complex random computer generated selection process. It's much more efficient and frees Him up to play golf with Gabriel and target practice for the End Times.

3. Without pain there is no gain. Think about it. If we were all running around with no cancer, STD's, mental illness, learning disabilities, etc because whenever they popped up God just blinked them away (like that chick on I Dream of Genie - whatshername) we'd hardly ever have a reason to rely on Him (besides the food, shelter and shiny toys). Experiencing pain builds character.

Mark Batterson in his book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" talks about how when a bone is broken (major pain) and then heals over time (more pain) it is stronger than before (major gain). Maybe God is trying to teach us or those around us something through experiencing the pain of whatever illness plagues us (hopefully not THE plague though because that one was a doozie). After we've come through a painful situation we are better equipped to minister to others in similar circumstances.

4. We live in a broken world. Pain and sickness are part of the human condition until we get to Heaven. No beating around bush on that one (especially that burning one Moses saw).

I've been through a fair amount of pain and more than once God has saved my bacon. When people look at me with pain in their eyes and ask "Why can a God of love allow this to happen?" there really isn't a way for me to answer that without coming off preachy or an emotionally disconnected jerk.

Honest answer? I have no idea. But I know He loves you.

Is God still "good" if he doesn't heal some but chooses to heal others? What is God's criteria for healing someone? How do you deal with accepting God's choice not to heal you?
K.C. (@ThatGuyKC on Twitter) is a native Seattle-ite working on an MBA while plodding through a job as a cubicle dweller and trying to figure out what to do with his life. He’s married to an awesome wife, has a rambunctious 8 year old son, and a feisty little redhead daughter of 2 ½.