Tammy and I have both been sick with Covid. I got it first and am feeling better. She is just now hitting the really hard part. I prayed she would not get it, but she did. I’ve prayed she will heal quickly, and hope she will.
In my head I understand why not every prayer for instant healing gets answered. Imagine if it did. The hospitals would all empty as every cancer victim, every kidney failure, every weak heart was healed. But would people then love and serve God for who he is? Or just look to him as a magic genie to grant their wishes?
God does not heal everyone on this earth. At least not on this side of eternity. To do so would wreck his relationship with us. Even so, when he doesn’t answer MY prayers for healing, I sometimes feel hurt. Like “God if you really loved me, you would do this for me.” But that’s not the point of miracles. It wasn’t even the point when Jesus walked the earth.
In Mathew 11: 5 we see the point. John asks Jesus if he really is the Messiah. Jesus ‘ response is to point to the miracles. The miracles were the tools God used to prove Jesus was who he said he was. The miracles were tools used to further the cause of Christ.
Did/does Jesus love the hurting and the sick? Yes. Does he still heal today? Yes. But when he does not, it’s not a gauge declaring his love for us, but an opportunity to show our love for him. And for a God who desires and deserves unconditional love, that will further the cause of Christ more than empty hospitals.