The end of Bob Vincent’s paper (continued from yesterday)

The Bible reveals God’s will.  We should always take our stand on what the Bible tells us pleases God:  God’s will is life and health and strength and enough of this world’s goods to take care of those for whom we are responsible and have enough left over to give to others in need.  God’s will is salvation:  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).

When our Lord Jesus faced the most frightful and painful event in the history of the world, he earnestly prayed against it, and he did not rest until he had God’s good purpose clearly set before him: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36).  At least four things stand out in Mark 14:36:

• Jesus rests in the love of God. God is his Father and his stance toward his child is one of affection and delight: “Abba, Father.”
• Jesus rests in the absolute sovereignty of God: “All things are possible unto thee.”
• Jesus really prays: “Take away this cup from me.”
• Having prayed, Jesus rests in submission to God’s good purpose: “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Too often Christians fail to pray through a matter until they truly have the mind of the Lord.  The Apostle Paul prayed earnestly to be delivered from his painful, demonic thorn in the flesh, and he did not rest until he was assured by the Lord himself that he had something better in mind than merely being delivered from a vexing problem:  “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:8, 9).

Living as we do when Christian Theology is no longer the Queen of the Sciences, we are apt to receive bad news as if it is a revelation of the will of God.  Physicians, driven by obligation, often lay out all of the negative possibilities to their patients, and hurting people hear these words as if they are a divine decree.  They hear the doctor say, “Some people who undergo this treatment may die.”  They think, “Oh, no, I’m going to die!”  Without really wrestling in prayer, without following the Biblical instruction of James 5:13-16, they simply pray for grace to accept the inevitable.  How foolish!  How shortsighted!  How unbiblical!  Such thinking fails to come to grips that the world is governed by more than an observable nexus of natural phenomena. Behind every natural phenomenon is something greater, something beyond the observation of the natural man.  God is sovereign:  “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:29)

Beyond natural phenomena is something else, too, the manipulation of Satan.  His hateful hand can sometimes be traced in the physical afflictions that we often face.  Had we been present at the synagogue that day when Jesus healed the crippled woman (Luke 13:11-17), perhaps we could have offered a purely natural explanation for her malady.  But Luke tells us that there was something sinister that lay behind her natural problem:  she “had a spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11). The Lord Jesus puts it this way:  “This woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think about it — these eighteen years” (Luke 13:16).

Until Jesus returns, everybody is going to die (Hebrews 9:27).  But we need to consider the fact that not every sickness is “unto death” (John 11:4).  Furthermore, we need to embrace the concept that it is normally God’s will that we be in sufficiently good health to go about the business of doing what God has called us to do.  And we need to see the real advantage Satan and his demons take through human sickness.  These times of pain and affliction become exacerbated by demonic whispers in our souls:  “You’re going to die, and there’s nothing that anybody can do about it.  You are a failure.  God doesn’t love you.  His promises are not for you.”  This is one reason that we should not only pray for the sick, but also visit them and pray with them.  They need words of encouragement.  We need to go and speak God’s Word to them to put life into them, to put the fight back into them.

Yes, of course, it isn’t always God’s will to heal everybody of every disease.  But so often we may miss the blessing of seeing someone wonderfully delivered and the testimony of that deliverance resulting in lost people coming to the Lord Jesus.  May we fight the good fight of faith, remembering that Psalm 118 was not written with a passive faith in mind, but a warring faith — a faith that boldly runs into the battle of the ages, joining the ranks of other warriors in the Lord’s army.  In such an active faith, as we boldly do what we could never do without the promises of God, we may stand secure, bolding shouting the promise:  “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.”