Many of my patients are seriously ill. Some of them know they are terminal from the start, others are hoping for a cure. Many of them discuss their faith with me and the ways they are praying for healing.
Others have a condition that will probably not end their life, but life is fraught with pain and difficulty. Pain marks their days, or causes their organ systems to fight against them. They long for relief in the land of the living.
Sometimes the healing comes, and it’s dramatic and miraculous. Sometimes medical interventions make the problem manageable. But sometimes the pain and problems linger, despite prayer, lifestyle changes, and medications.
And that’s just the medical. There are spiritual things that we pray for as well. Strained family relationships. The work situation that you just can’t find closure on.
So what can we do when healing never comes?
God Hears You, Even in the Silence
We often say that when God doesn’t say yes to one of our prayers, it’s because he has something better in his plan. I certainly agree to that, and can think of many times when my own dreams were feeble compared to what he had waiting for me.
I do think, however, we need to tread carefully here. Because sometimes God’s “better” for us is still not the path we would have chosen. God works all things for our good to “conform us to the likeness of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Other verses tell us that suffering refines our faith (Hebrews 12:2, James 1:3-4, 2 Peter 1:5-8, 1 Thessalonians 3:10). None of that is pleasant, and I don’t think we are wrong to hope that our faith can be refined in less stressful ways, but our good God knows us and sees what we need.
Faith in the Waiting
But what does faith in the waiting look like? Does it mean we paste a smile on and say we’re fine—even when we’re not? Are we being bad Christians if we admit that something is hard and that we are struggling?
God told us not to fear because life is scary. God told us to rest in him because life is exhausting. Paul admitted he had a thorn in his side. He worried about the churches he had planted (1 Thessalonians 3:5, Galatians 4:11). In 1 Corinthians 5:28, he said he faced daily “the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”
Faith in the waiting doesn’t mean we deny our pain. It doesn’t mean we pretend things are going great. We have to be honest with God, ourselves, and others about the pain, either physical or spiritual, that we are feeling.
One of my tasks is to warn patients of the side effects they may face from a treatment. And everyone has to balance the side effects against the benefit of the medication. In some cases, the risks were not worth it. Many times, the patient has to trust that the benefit will come.
The Ministry of the Broken
Paul was writing to encourage Christians who faced losing everything on account of their faith. He was not sending them plaques with engraved platitudes about closed doors and open windows. And since Paul’s faith eventually cost him his life, he knew what he was talking about.
But Paul had no earthly cure to offer. He did promise we would be more like Jesus. He promised life with Jesus was better than any earthly security we could have. And finally, he promised that the future glory was greater than any earthly trial we could face. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
Of course, the perfecting of our faith does have benefits in this life. It allows us to walk alongside other hurting people with compassion (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). It teaches us to long for the glory that is to come (2 Corinthians 4:17). It serves as a witness to those around us.
Other times, the answer isn’t so easy to see. We have to then trust in the God who sees what we cannot.
I’d love to connect with you beyond the blog. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, where I share more encouragement for women navigating faith and health. You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter.
Leave a Reply