Scripture teaches us in Matthew 8:17 that Jesus himself took our infirmities and bore our illnesses on the cross. Matthew was quoting Isaiah 53:4, which also assures us that Christ carried our sorrows. And Luke 4:18 tells us he came to “heal the brokenhearted.” We know that all God’s words are true. So why do we continue to face trials in our lives? How do we share in the cup of suffering and sorrow and walk in the knowledge that Jesus bore our infirmities, sickness, and grief? Why do we still experience pain if Christ Jesus took it upon himself thousands of years ago? If sin was conquered on the cross, why do we battle against it continually? Shouldn’t we be totally relieved from sin and suffering once we receive Christ as our Savior?
There is an unavoidable sense of frustration and tension that we have to learn to live with while we walk in this life centered around one crucial truth: Not everybody that is prayed for is healed, we will suffer, we will grapple with sin on a daily basis and we will die. It seems contradictive to what we know to be true: Jesus died for our sin, suffering and conquering death.
There are times when we pray and our prayers are answered promptly, miraculously, and without hesitance on God’s part, while other times it may seem like our prayers were never heard at all, or at best, the answer is being delayed.
The truth is that Jesus did defeat all of the powers of evil, once and for all on the cross and in his resurrection. By his stripes we are healed. Because he was pierced for our transgressions, we are free. Because he dealt with the chastisement of our sin, we have peace. He conquered death so we could have life.
Jesus came and preached that “the kingdom of God” had arrived in his coming to earth, and he was equally adamant that the kingdom was coming more fully in the future (John 1:12; Luke 4:18-21; Matthew 19:28). Hence we live in the tension of a “now and not yet” world.
Jesus defeated the power of evil completely, but we still grapple with the onslaught of evil daily. In that, there is an acute awareness that the ultimate victory of God will not see its final completion until Christ comes again. Thus life is lived in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation where sin, suffering, and pain are the norm. We are called to live not as citizens of this evil world, but as citizens of heaven. We are called to accept by faith that we are adopted as God’s children by the blood shed by Jesus, but we are also told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. These seemingly contradictive statements are all true.
In essence, we are caught between two governments. In America when a new president is elected, a team of people is put in place for the purpose of initiating the transfer of power from the old administration to the new. Although the victor is not president until the inauguration, the effect of the election is already at work in the transition. The outgoing president is basically a lame duck no matter what he tries to accomplish because the newly appointed president has the ultimate veto power to override his decisions. Thus the center of focus is on the incoming president and policies, although the old administration appears to be in charge.
This gives us insight to the current situation we find ourselves in today. The church is in effect a transition team. Transition between an administration where there is no room for God, which describes the true sense of the world we inhabit, and one where God is the center of everything, which describes the reality of the coming kingdom. We live in a world where suffering and pain are prominent. However, there are times when the new administration exercises the ultimate veto power over what the old world seeks to bring against us, and intervenes in what we would refer to as a miracle. As we are told in Scripture, we are citizens of the new world while we physically operate in the old.
I grapple with a personal illness that I’ve prayed God to heal for over ten years to no avail. My body’s physical state due to other spiritual practices like fasting adds to the discomfort of my illness, but I know that the Lord is the Lord whether I ever get healing on this earth during my lifetime or not. One of the great things about suffering is it makes you long for the day when we are in heaven and we have new bodies; without sickness, pain and suffering. Yet, as my physical body grows older and will one day turn back to dust, my soul and spirit are given more life and will someday live eternally in heaven with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! I will be given a new body and it will be without flaws, pain, agony or age.
My prayer for you is that whatever you are grappling with you will understand and know that Jesus has been clearly established as the victor through his work on the cross and in the resurrection. We need to continue to seek Him in prayer and ask for healing believing in faith it will come; if not on earth, than in heaven. He is Jehovah-Rapha, our Healer and the lover of our souls. Seek Him now, and cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.
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