Friday, November 09, 2007

As long as I'm being all serious...

I might as well get philosophical, too. A friend asked me earlier to help her give an answer to someone who asked if she believed in miracles, and why God didn't heal amputees. I tried my best to give an answer and thought I'd share it here, as well, if expanded a bit. So why doesn't God always heal the broken?

That's a tough question, for sure. Because if God can heal people, why not heal everyone, right? I believe that He can and does heal, by I don't know why He heals some and not others. I sometimes get angry and wish God would heal me of my depression. But then I remember that because I feel this way, I've been able to understand others who are hurting, and I can write songs about depending on God that have spoken to His people. Maybe that "unhealed" amputee would have lost their life, and not just their limb, if God hadn't intervened? How are we to know, and who are we to assume we know better?
Our lives are a series of choices that lead us to various destinations and both positive and negative consequences, and God couldn't stop all bad things from happening without eliminating the gift of free will! Sometimes it's not an issue of fault or deserving, but just being in the wrong place at the wrong time - or maybe it's right. Perhaps a man who lost his legs had aims to be an athlete, but since he can't do that, at least in the way he'd planned, he's now an international lawyer advocating for children's rights in war-torn countries? Most would say that's a greater purpose, or at least a more altruistic one. We can't see what's going to happen, or what would have happened. Like everything else with Christianity, it requires trust and faith - to believe that "all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
And I do believe that: that even when I can't see the point, God has a purpose. After all, this world is a whole lot bigger than just you and me. As I mentioned yesterday, most of us here are so tremendously blessed, and would do well to remember it. I guess me writing this right now is my way of reminding myself, and the question from a friend God's way of prompting me to keep perspective. And if I needed just one more reminder, the song on my iTunes shuffle? Brian Doerkson's "Faithful One."*
*if you don't know it, you can find the lyrics here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In my opinion, you're never given more than you can handle...and I always try to remind myself of that. Pretty straight forward, but sometimes it snaps me back into reality!