Dear Father Paul: I am a believer of many years. I have developed a debilitating health problem which causes me a lot of pain and greatly limits my activities. Doctors have been no help. I (and others) have prayed earnestly for my healing, but so far … nothing. I have been standing on Isaiah 53:5, but I am getting increasingly discouraged. Your thoughts please. — No Name.
Dear No Name: Over the years almost every pastor has heard this same heartfelt plea many, many times. “What’s going on pastor? I have trusted in God to provide, and he hasn’t. I have prayed and he hasn’t answered. My sick child died. I lost a great job and have been unemployed for two years,” and on, and on and on. Heartbreaking stories and disappointment in God are on a pastor’s plate day in and day out. “Where are you God?”
People who study today’s Christian Church report that “disappointment in God” is by far the number one reason why Christians abandon the faith and leave the church. Many reading this column will certainly relate to No Name. I myself have a deep personal connection to stories like his/hers. In the mid 1990s my wife Judy and I lost two grandsons to a rare and hellish birth defect in the short space of two years … even though we and hundreds of friends prayed in faith and pleaded with God to spare their lives and heal them.
Our hearts were broken, not to mention the children’s mom (our daughter) and her husband. Both grandfathers were preachers … both grandmothers were strong women of God. I can clearly remember my reaction. I was hurt and angry at God and wanted to just walk away from him and his church. “If this is how you treat people who serve you faithfully for over 40 years God, who needs you,” I can remember crying out?
And then, somehow I remembered the powerful story in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John in the Bible. Jesus had proclaimed a really, really tough teaching and the Bible says that “many” of his followers were offended and deserted him. In John 6:66 (New Living Translation) Jesus asked his 12 disciples, “Are you also going to leave?” To which Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You (alone) have the words that give eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God (the Messiah).”
It was a watershed moment of choice in my life. But somehow I found the guts to say out loud to God. “Lord, I’m not the smartest sheep in your flock, And I’m not the best looking or the most talented … and you know that there is a lot that I can’t do. But I can remain faithful and obedient and continue to follow you. I can at least do that.” And I have faithfully followed him (yes, sometimes in blind faith) to this day at age 72.
The Apostle Paul faced a very similar situation to the one our questioner asks about. In II Corinthians 12, Paul lets us in on the story. I urge you to read this short but very powerful chapter. Paul relates that for some time he had endured a very painful malady in his flesh … a disease or illness. He says that he had prayed (“begged”) the Lord three times to heal him. But God said no. Instead God spoke these words to Paul, (New Living Translation) “My grace (my unmerited favor) is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” Paul goes on to say (paraphrased) … “Now I brag about my weakness.” Wow!
To answer the question, “Why am I still sick when I have prayed to be healed?” The answer is … sorry … I simply don’t know, I’m not God.
But this much I do know. Disappointment with God is neither wrong nor sinful. No, it is where many of us often find ourselves because we live on a sinful, fallen planet. And Jesus has not yet returned to fully restore his perfect Kingdom on our planet.
The key to avoiding disappointment with God, I think, is for us to lay aside our own plans and wills and line up totally with his plan and will, just as Peter and the disciples did and just as the Apostle Paul did in the examples above … knowing in faith that our God is a holy, righteous, perfect, merciful and loving heavenly father.
Do you have a question? Email it to me at [email protected] and I will try to answer in the paper.
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[Father Paul Massey is pastor emeritus at Church of the Holy Cross in Fayetteville, Ga. Visit www.holycross church.wordpress.com for recorded Sunday sermons, more information, service times and directions.]
