Why doesn't God heal everyone?
One of God's names is Jehovah-Rapha, "the healing Lord." In Exodus 15:26, God claims to be the healer of his people. The passage specifically refers to healing from physical diseases:
He said: "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, obeying his orders and observing all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer from the diseases I sent to the Egyptians, because I am the Lord who heals you. " (NLT)
The Bible records a considerable number of accounts of physical healing in the Old Testament. Likewise, in the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, healing miracles are prominently highlighted. And throughout the centuries of church history, believers have continued to testify of God's power to heal the sick divinely.
So if God by his very nature declares himself Healer, why doesn't God heal everyone?
Why did God use Paul to heal Publius' father who was suffering from fever and dysentery, as well as many other sick people, but not his beloved disciple Timothy who suffered from frequent stomach ailments?
Why doesn't God heal everyone?
Maybe you are suffering from an illness right now. Have you prayed for all the healing biblical verses you know, and again, are you wondering, why won't God heal me?
Maybe you recently lost a loved one to cancer or some other terrible disease. It is natural to ask the question: why does God heal some people but not others?
The quick and obvious answer to the question lies in God's sovereignty. God is in control and ultimately knows what is best for his creations. While this is certainly true, there are many clear reasons given in Scripture to further explain why God may not heal.
Biblical reasons that God cannot heal
Now, before diving, I want to admit something: I don't fully understand all the reasons why God doesn't heal. I have struggled with my personal "thorn in the flesh" for years. I refer to 2 Corinthians 12: 8-9, where the apostle Paul declared:
Three different times I prayed to the Lord to take him away. Whenever he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. " So now I'm happy to brag about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (NLT)
Like Paul, I pleaded (in my case for years) for relief, for healing. In the end, like the apostle, I decided in my weakness to live in the sufficiency of God's grace.
During my sincere search for answers on healing, I was fortunate to learn a few things. And so I will pass them on to you:
Sin not confessed
With this first we will cut ourselves in pursuit: sometimes the disease is the result of an unconfessed sin. I know, I didn't like this answer either, but it's right there in the Scripture:
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can be healed. The sincere prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16, NLT)
I want to emphasize that disease is not always the direct result of sin in someone's life, but pain and disease are part of this fallen and cursed world in which we currently live. We must be careful not to blame every sinful illness, but we must also realize that it is a possible reason. So, a good starting point if you came to the Lord for healing is to seek your heart and confess your sins.
Lack of faith
When Jesus healed the sick, on many occasions he made this statement: "Your faith has healed you."
In Matthew 9: 20-22, Jesus healed the woman who had suffered for many years with constant bleeding:
Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding approached him. He touched the fringe of his robe, because he thought, "If only I could touch his robe, I will be healed."
Jesus turned and when he saw her he said: “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has healed you. " And the woman was healed at that moment. (NLT)
Here are some other biblical examples of healing in response to faith:
Matthew 9: 28–29; Mark 2: 5, Luke 17:19; Acts 3:16; James 5: 14–16.
Apparently, there is an important link between faith and healing. Given the multitude of scriptures that link faith to healing, we must conclude that healing sometimes does not occur because of the lack of faith, or rather, the pleasant type of faith that God honors. Again, we must be careful not to take for granted every time someone is not healed, the reason is the lack of faith.
Failure to request
If we do not ask and long for healing, God will not respond. When Jesus saw a lame man who had been ill for 38 years, he asked, "Would you like to heal?" It might seem like a strange question from Jesus, but immediately the man apologized: "I can't, sir," he said, "because I don't have anyone to put me in the pool when the water boils. Someone else always comes before me. " (John 5: 6-7, NLT) Jesus looked into the heart of man and saw his reluctance to be healed.
Maybe you know someone who is addicted to stress or crisis. They don't know how to behave without disorder in their life, and so they begin to orchestrate their atmosphere of chaos. Likewise, some people may not want to be treated because they have linked their personal identity so closely to their illness. These people can fear the unknown aspects of life beyond their illness or crave the attention that affliction provides.
James 4: 2 clearly states: "You don't have, why don't you ask." (ESV)
Need for release
The scriptures also indicate that some diseases are caused by spiritual or demonic influences.
And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. (Acts 10:38, NLT)
In Luke 13, Jesus healed a woman paralyzed by an evil spirit:
One day on Saturday while Jesus taught in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been paralyzed by an evil spirit. She had been doubled over for eighteen years and was unable to stand up. When Jesus saw her, he called her and said, "Dear woman, you are cured of your illness!" Then he touched her and she could stand straight. How he praised God! (Luke 13: 10-13)
Even Paul called his thorn in the flesh a "messenger of Satan":
... although I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from being proud, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. (2 Corinthians 12: 7, NLT)
Hence, there are times when a demonic or spiritual cause must be addressed before healing can take place.
A higher purpose
CS Lewis wrote in his book, The problem of pain: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain, it is his megaphone to awaken a deaf world".
We may not understand it at the time, but sometimes God wants to do more than just heal our physical bodies. Often, in his infinite wisdom, God will use physical suffering to develop our character and produce spiritual growth in us.
I discovered, but only by looking back at my life, that God had a higher purpose of letting me struggle with painful disability for years. Instead of healing me, God used the test to redirect me, first, towards a desperate dependence on him, and secondly, on the path of purpose and destiny that he had planned for my life. He knew where I would be most productive and satisfied by serving him, and he knew the path it would take to get me there.
I am not suggesting never to stop praying for healing, but also to ask God to show you the top plan or the best purpose he could achieve through your pain.
Glory of God
Sometimes when we pray for healing, our situation goes from bad to worse. When this happens, it is possible that God is planning to do something powerful and wonderful, something that will bring even more glory to his name.
When Lazarus died, Jesus waited to go to Bethany because he knew he would perform an incredible miracle there, for the glory of God. Many people who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Over and over again I have seen believers suffer terribly and even die of an illness, but through it they have indicated countless lives towards God's plan of salvation.
God's time
Excuse me if this seems blunt, but we must all die (Hebrews 9:27). And, as part of our fallen state, death is often accompanied by disease and suffering when we leave our body of flesh and enter the afterlife.
So one of the reasons why healing may not take place is that it is simply God's time to bring a believer home.
In the days surrounding my research and writing this healing study, my mother-in-law died. Together with my husband and family, we saw her make her journey from earth to eternal life. Having reached the age of 90, there has been a lot of suffering in his last years, months, weeks and days. But now she is free of pain. It is healed and whole in the presence of our Savior.
Death is the maximum healing for the believer. And we have this wonderful promise that we can't wait for when we reach our final destination at home with God in heaven:
Every tear will wipe from their eyes and there will be no more death, pain, tears or pain. All of these things are gone forever. (Revelation 21: 4, NLT)