Holding To God's Word

It is the revelation of God in His word that teaches us of His ways and thoughts that are higher than ours.  Great error is inevitable when we depart from the scripture and rely upon personal experience to determine what is doctrinally true.  Drifting into the fallacy of personal experience can be subtle, and even people who hold to the Bible being the word of God are not exempt from the resulting bias.  Better than limiting the way God can or will do something by our experience, we are wise to hold to God's word as truth and guidance for life.

Recently I read a book by an author I respect who holds the Bible in high esteem.  While there were times he referenced scripture to explain doctrines, his positions were greatly weakened by straw man arguments and the fallacy of personal experience.  Because he had not seen someone who could heal "on command," he dismissed the possibility anyone could be given gifts of healing today.  I am not convinced anyone gifted by God to heal did so "on command" of anyone other than God, for that would reduce this divine act to a party trick.  Just because we are given spiritual gifts according to the will of the Holy Spirit, there is an appropriate time and occasion to use them as led by Him.  Initially when Jesus was approached by a woman who begged Him to cast a demon out of her daughter, Jesus did not do so.  In response to her persistence and faith He ultimately did as she asked, and her daughter was made whole that very hour.

The author went on to say if the gifts of healing were truly in operation today, the hospitals would be empty because those who could heal would empty them.  Again, there is no scriptural precedent in the Gospels or the book of Acts (or anywhere else in the Bible) to support such a claim.  In John 5 Jesus went to the pool of Bethsaida where there were many sick and infirm people, and we read of Him choosing to heal one man.  He may have healed more than one person on the day, but the scripture remains silent on this.  What I love about that passage is Jesus went the man and knew He had suffered his condition for a long time.  The man hoped his healing would occur by his entering the pool first after it had been stirred, and Jesus chose to heal the man by grace--for he did not even ask.

The author went into detail about the trickery and fakery in some evangelical circles where charlatans deceive people to believe divine healing has taken place.  Does the existence of liars and deceivers prevent God from continuing to divinely heal people according to His will?  Those phonies are not gifted by God to heal, but it does not follow that no one today has been given gifts to heal by God's grace.  What is much more likely is that people doubt God's will to heal, do not really believe God can or will heal them.  The words of Jesus when He described how prophets were not accepted in their own country can serve as a rebuke to people in the church who doubt God heals people today in Luke 4:27:  "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  Naaman came from Syria to be healed by Elisha the prophet of God and went home whole, yet there were many lepers in Israel when the prophet Elisha was given power from God to heal.

Can this also be true concerning people in the church today?  The man on the street may be more receptive to divine healing than the genuine Christian in church who believes gifts of healing are no more!  In both the Old and New Testament we see the power of God on display to heal, save, make whole and bring peace to the hearts and lives of people, and we need Him as much today as ever.  Since God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), let us believe He will continue to do His miraculous wonders in the time and way He sees fit.