Why Doesn't God Heal Everyone Who Asks?

When I was growing up, one of my best friends was Nathan Fischner who was born with a whole in his back (spina bifida).  He could walk only with a full lower-body brace and custom crutches, but he was an expert wheel chair racer and taught me the art and joy of the stationary wheelie.  Nathan is trained as a computer scientist, but for now he is working as a gem cutter.
A few years ago, I was preaching about a story of Jesus' healing a lame man, and I remembered Nathan.  I wondered how he reads this text and how he deals with the issue of healing from the perspective of one who has a life-long handicap.  His response - which has been percolating for quite some time - is thoughtful, personal, vulnerable, and at times profound.  With his permission, I am glad to post his answer here.

Nathan Fischner: You asked me in an email some years ago why it was that one does not say, "Rise up and walk!" to one who needs healing, and then send them on their way.  Why DON'T we ALL just go around mass healing the injured, disabled, and sick.  It seems so simple... and yet so many stay as they are.  The world God has made is a very big place, in terms of the possibilities of expressing his love to those he created in his own image.  There must, therefore, be more to it than it first seems.

I say that when it is revealed to us in terms we understand, we must accept God's will as a small trusting child would, without agenda and without expectations other than he is our Father and wants the best for us.  That being said, we are taught by Jesus himself to go into a quiet, secluded room, and, by the model prayer He gave us, to think on a much larger prayer than simply a need.  One is to acknowledge Him, His greatness and authority, and to truly rejoice before Him concerning what He has done for them and what this person has seen Him do for others (thankfulness isn't just presenting a list of items you have noticed done for you).  A little child, as we are meant to envision, comes to the Father saying "Please, fix this.", because the child has reached the end of his/her own resources, and the problem is something that they don't feel they can go on past without help.

God and Suffering

         When I was in a student in Europe, I took a midnight train from Paris to Zurich.  I was too cheap to pay for a sleeping car, so I ended up talking all night with a man named Yacov.  Yacov described himself as a secular Jew.  He grew up in Israel, where he was educated in the Jewish faith.  

However, when he saw a documentary on the Holocaust in middle school, he became an atheist.  He said to himself, “There is no such thing as God or the chosen people, or else this would not have happened.”

Yacov is not alone.  How can a good God allow so much suffering?  The Jewish prophet Habakkuk had the same question.  A few centuries before Jesus, the Greek philosopher Epicurus was wrestling with the problem of thinking of a good and strong God in a broken and bruised world.  A few centuries after Jesus, St. Augustine was still asking the same question.  He had some different answers, but he was still kicking the same can along the same street.  

How can a loving God allow so much suffering?  This question never goes away.   Everyone seems to ask this at one time or another.  Without a doubt, this is the single most common theological question voiced in movies.  “Why, God?  How could God let this happen?”

----  Let’s make this personal.  At the end of each row, you'll find some cards and pens. Take a minute and write down on the card one instance of serious suffering.  It can be global or hyper local.  You can make it as personal or impersonal as you want.  I’m not going to ask you to show it to anyone.

...

Now, hold those up.  Hold up your example of suffering.  Raise your hand high.  This is why we are talking about this.  These cards are why we have to talk about this.  We know suffering.  We need some answers for why there are all these cards in the air and why there is so much suffering in the world.

Let me give a few disclaimers before we really get started here. 

1.  The Bible does not give a complete answer to this question.   The Bible is more focused on how to overcome suffering rather than focusing on why there is suffering in the first place.

2.  There is no way that I can give a complete answer today.  You and I both will probably leave here feeling a little unsatisfied with the answers we talk about today.  However, I hope that I can at least make this issue more manageable for us.

When we face the problem of suffering in the world, it can be overwhelming.  Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, murders, poverty, starvation, cancer.  It all piles up, causing us to wonder how a loving God could allow so much suffering.  Sometimes, the mountain of pain gets bigger and bigger, and we get smaller and smaller, until we can’t see anything else but the pain.  One thing I hope to do today is to shrink that mountain so that we can move past it.  

By Gracious Powers: A Poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning,
And never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
For which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.

And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world you give us
The joy we had, the brightness of your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through
And our whole life shall then be yours alone.

By gracious powers so faithfully protected,
So quietly, so wonderfully near,
I'll live each day in hope, with you beside me,
And go with you through every coming year.



- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Letters and Papers from Prison."

Why We Praise (Habakkuk 3)

This is a guest post by our assistant pastor, Matt Banner.

Habakkuk 3

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

² Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy.

³ God came from Teman,
    the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens
    and his praise filled the earth.
⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise;
    rays flashed from his hand,
    where his power was hidden.
⁵ Plague went before him;
    pestilence followed his steps.
⁶ He stood, and shook the earth;
    he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
    and the age-old hills collapsed—
    but he marches on forever.
⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
    the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

The Just Trust (Habakkuk 2)

You talked back, and we heard.

• Why does God create people with mental illnesses?
• Why do so many people do good with bad results or do bad and are constantly blessed?
• If God is love, and God is good, then why does a good God allow suffering?

You talked back, and God heard you.  Before you even asked the questions, almost a year ago, God led our worship planners to plan a series on the Minor Prophets.  Somehow,God led us to the book of Habakkuk, which answers your questions directly.  

Habakkuk has the same kinds of questions.  Adam introduced them last week.  

• Why is there so much injustice in the world?
• How can God allow evil people to prosper while good people suffer?
• Where is the God who is supposed to protect us and to take care of us?
• Where is the justice in this messed up world?

Even a prophet has doubts and questions.  Perhaps, it’s the prophets especially who voice the questions and doubts.  Maybe they are the honest ones who say what everyone is thinking and feeling.

It’s time for you to get a little prophetic.  In your bulletin, you’ll find a piece of black paper.  On this paper, write down your biggest doubts and questions about our world.  How is our world unjust?  What bothers you the most about our world?  When you think abou the global situation or your personal life situation, what makes you really angry?  Write it down.  I’m not going to ask you to read it to anyone or to talk to anyone.  The paper is black so that even your neighbor or your spouse can’t read what you’re writing.  Be completely honest.  Use all caps and explanation points and curse words if you want.  No one will see it.

OK, go ahead and write.

---

Now, hold on to that paper and that doubt for a few minutes as we turn to Habakkuk.  He asked God his questions.  He shouted at God, and then God answered.  Today, we’re going to read Habakkuk 2, which gives us God’s longest answer to Habakkuk.  We’ll start where Adam left off last week.

Why do so many people do good with bad results or do bad and are constantly blessed? (Talk Back Series)

Question: I 1000% disagree that what you plant, you harvest. Why do so many people do good with bad results or do bad and are constantly blessed?

There are several ways to answer your question.  Each answer is a little different, but all are true.

1. There is the idea of what it means to have bad results.  As Christians, we believe in the idea of God controlling ultimate justice. There are eternal consequences, both good and bad, for our actions here on Earth.  In the end, we are subject to God's judgement.  (See Psalm 1: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked...but his delight is in the law of the Lord...for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”) Blessings are not derived from health, wealth or earthly success, but by knowing and living with and for Christ. John 17:3 talks about eternal life in knowing Jesus. If we envy the wicked, we are being shortsighted. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says that the suffering of the righteous is nothing compared to the weight of glory.
2. Often, when we think about God giving us good and bad things, we tend to think of people being either good or bad.  We say, why do bad things happen to good people and why do good things happen to bad people?  The truth is, none of us are good people.  We are all sinners, and we all deserve death and hell.  But we are saved by God's great grace and mercy. Romans 5:8 states: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  All of the good in our lives is already from God, and God loves all of us, even those who have not accepted Christ.
3. The idea that we reap what we sow is more the idea that if we treat others well and with love, then that often comes back to us in the form of love and friendship and seeing good happen to those we care about.  Those who live lives that are selfish and uncaring may still gain fame and fortune, but they will drive people away from them.  Eventually, people will see through someone and will know a snake when they see one. 
4. Often, the Bible actually presents two sides of the same issue.  The “reap what you sow” concept that Josh talked about last week is a great example of this.  Some parts of the Bible (like Proverbs) speak heavily toward justice here and now on earth.  The basic premise of Proverbs is that if you make wise choices, you will be blessed in this life.  This is the basic “rule of life,” the way life normally operates.  If you eat well and exercise, you are probably going to be pretty healthy.  However, if you eat pizza and icecream while watching TV all day, you’re going to need a fork lift to get out of bed by the time you’re 50.  You reap what you sow.  However, other books of the Bible speak more to the “exception to the rule.”  Sometimes, even if you do everything right, you’ll still get cancer and die at 30.  Sometimes, life simply isn’t fair.  Ecclesiastes is a book that goes more in this direction.  Both are true.  There are definitely basic principles for wise and healthy living, but just like English grammar, there are always annoying exceptions to the rules.

(Answered by Matt and Josh)

Why Does God Allow Suffering? (Talk Back Series)

If God is love, and God is good, then why does a good God allow suffering (emotionally, physically, socially, etc.)?
[This is a response to a question shared on a "Talk Back" card at our church.]

When I was in Europe, I took a midnight train from Paris to Zurich. I was too cheap to pay for a sleeping car, so I ended up talking all night with a man named Yacov. Yacov described himself as a secular Jew. He is Israeli and grew up in Israel. He was educated in the Jewish faith.
However, when he saw a documentary on the Holocaust in school, he became an atheist. He said to himself, “There is no such thing as God or the chosen people, or else this would not have happened.”
Yacov is not alone. Many people have lost faith in God because of the suffering they see in the world. How can a loving God allow so much suffering? This is a huge question.

Take a minute and think about one instance of serious suffering. It can be something you went through, something that happened to someone you know, or something you just heard about. You can make it as personal or impersonal as you want.

How can a loving God allow so much suffering? This is one of the hardest questions for both Christians and non-Christians. I want to give a few disclaimers before we set into our discussion tonight.
1. The Bible does not give a complete answer to this question. The Bible is more focused on how to overcome suffering rather than focusing on why there is suffering in the first place.
2. There is no way that I can give a complete answer today. You and I both will probably leave here feeling at least a little unsatisfied with the answers we talk about today. Even though I can’t answer the question completely, I hope that I can at least make this issue more manageable for us.

Trouble

Trouble. Transition.  Death.  Moving away.  Illness.  Conflict.  New job.  New stuff to do in your old job.  Sometimes life is hard.  

In times like this, one little thing Jesus said really helps me: “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  

There is no way to get out of the trouble in this world.  Trouble is part of the fabric of this broken world.  

But Jesus has overcome the world and its troubles.  Jesus connects us with the world beyond.  Jesus gives us a peace that comes from outside this world.  He is our life-line, and we connect with Jesus as we open our hearts to him and to each other.  Like a thousand bricks supporting each other and sharing the weight, we strengthen one another.  As we stick together, we stick to Christ.  

As we experience trouble and transition in various shapes and sizes, let’s go deeper together.  Life is uncertain, so don’t live it alone.  Open up to each other.  Pray together.  Take heart - together.  This is what makes us the body of Christ.

Utterly Devoted - 1 Samuel 15

About a year and a half ago, a revolution started in Syria.  It began with peaceful protests against the oppressive regime of King Al-Assad.  These protests were met with increasing cruelty and repression by Assad and his supporters.  Eventually the protests transitioned to armed rebellion, and now a civil war has begun.

  

Assad grows more and more violent every week.  Recently he defended his actions as necessary for the health of the nation: “When a surgeon in an operating room ... cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?  ... Or do we thank him for saving the patient?”

On May 25, soldiers and pro-government forces attacked the city of Houla just after nightfall.

  For about five hours they looted homes and killed whole families.  A total of 108 people were killed, including 49 children and 34 women.

  This was an open attempt to terrorize Syria’s people into giving up the revolution.  The photos of children stabbed, shot, and beaten to death have outraged the world into near unanimous condemnation and disgust.  

Hold this disgust and horror in mind as we turn to our Biblical text today.  Only these real events can set the proper frame for what we are about to read.

1 Samuel 15:1-23

One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! 2 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”

When?

When does the sun rise?

   When the first hint of light?

Always while it’s dark

   After a long, long night.

God Plaguing Us - Exodus 7-11

   This is a long and complex passage.  You will probably have unanswered questions after I’m done talking.  That’s OK.  There is no way I can talk about everything here, so I want to make some observations that can help us understand this strange text and apply it in our lives today.   Ten observations about the ten plagues.

1. Yahweh is God of all the earth.  In the English text, any time you see the word LORD in all capital letters, that is a textual symbol that the Hebrew word used is YHWH (or Yahweh).  Yahweh is the special Hebrew name for God.  The background for the plague story is a battle of Egypt’s gods and Yahweh Israel’s God.
    Moses comes to Pharaoh and says, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go ...”  But Pharaoh responds, “And who is the LORD?  ... I don’t know him, and I won’t let Israel go.” (5:1-2).  This is the essential conflict of the plagues.  Yahweh is making himself known to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh is learning to submit to the God of all the earth. 

 

2. Yahweh wants all people to worship him.  Before the plague of the flies, God says, he is sending this plague so that “you will know that I am the LORD and that I am present even in the heart of your land” (8:22).  Before the plague of the hail, God said, “By now I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth.  But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth...” (9:15-16).  
    God wants all people everywhere to worship him.  This was a radical concept.  Back then, each tribe or nation worshiped their own collection of gods.  The gods were regionally or topically based - the god of this area or this issue.  No god asked for everyone’s exclusive worship - only some worship from some people.  Yahweh’s claim that he is the One True God of All the Earth was - and is - radical.

Israel and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time - Exodus 6

(This is a sermon by Matt Banner, our assistant pastor.)

    One of the most famous children’s books is also one that I enjoy.  It is called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst (Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Spl Ltd edition (September 22, 2009).  In it, it tells the story of Alexander, how everything goes wrong for him.  It starts out like this:

    “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day…..I think I’ll move to Australia.”

    And things just get worse for poor Alexander.

• At breakfast, his 2 brothers, Anthony and Nick, get prizes in their cereal.  He just gets cereal.
• On the way to school, he has to sit in the middle of the car.
• At school, his teacher doesn’t like his drawing of an invisible castle.
• He sings too loud.
• He left out the number 16 when counting (who needs 16 anyway)
• His best friend leaves him to become his third best friend.

Community Art Project: Exodus 4

 ¹ But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”

 ² Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

Community Art Project: Exodus 2

This was our Ash Wednesday text and art.  We missed having these in the worship service, but I want to share them here.

 Exodus 2
²³ Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.


DELIVERANCE
I did not know that petulance would smolder into searing loss, nor that flames of
     earthly sorrow rampage beyond the flesh and torch the soul.
I did not know that soul-fire can condense all human anguish into one consuming
     cry for You, Lord. Only You.
I did not know, but God knew.

And in His presence, peace and hope and comfort wrap me, hold me in divine
     embrace. On wings of music, healing light - More than delivered from,
     delivered to.
I did not know! But God knew.

This one was too large to scan as one file.  Hopefully, you can still get the idea.

 

MAUS - Review

I didn't know they gave out Pulitzer Prizes for comic books.  Apparently, neither did the Pulitzer people.  In 1992, they awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Award to Art Spiegelman for MAUS, a graphic novel (AKA grown-ups comic book).
With poignancy, simplicity, and gravitas, Spiegelman depicts his father's journey through the Polish ghettos, Auschwitz, and immigration to the USA.  The first person narratives are brutal and painful, but the pain is equally present in Spiegelman's panning back and forth between history and the actual interview process with his father. 
Their father-son relationship is deeply strained, and this honest retelling brings knowing smiles and nods from all grown-up children who still struggle with their parents.  Spiegleman pulls the curtain a little further as he sketches his own depression, ambivalence toward his success, and writer's block.  He even includes a scene where he is getting help from his therapist. 
On one hand, MAUS is so extremely simple that I wonder why it should deserve such high honors.  On the other hand, its real value is its  simplicity and authenticity in dealing with such difficult subjects.
This is my first exposure to the graphic novel genre, and it seems that I've started at the top.  (Thanks for the loan, B.)  The Josh rating: JJJJJ.

Community Art Project: Exodus 1

Throughout Lent, we are inviting our extended church community to do art (of any kind) based on the Sunday texts.  Our first text is Exodus 1 for this coming Sunday (pre-Lent, since Lent actually begins on Ash Wednesday).  Each week we will put the community-crafted art on the PowerPoint for a period of silent reflection on that day's text.
Here are some of the art pieces we have so far.  (For the sake of freedom of expression, we are withholding the names of the artists.)

Here's a nice overview piece with a summary of the chapter embedded.

Aimee Mullins - Absolutely Amazing

Aimee Mullins was born without her fibulae (1 of two bones in both legs).  She has harnessed engineers, scientists, artists, and fashion designers to create better prosthetic legs - some possibly even superior to flesh-and-bone legs.
Check out her website here, and watch her tell her stories below.

Here is her original TED video, where she discusses her career as a paraolympic athlete with prosthetic legs modeled after the hind legs of cheetahs.   This was the talk that totally changed her life in the direction you will see in the next videos.

Here she discusses how her life moved into a radically new direction because of the first video above.






Here, she discusses how to let adversity propel you beyond your former status quo.



Also, be sure to listen to her Moth podcast.  (Scroll down to Moth Radio Hour 404.)

Time Lapse Theology (Isaiah 40:1-11)

    That was called “Cheonan By Night,” and it is a time lapse video by our own Andy Phelps.  One of the things I love about this video is the contrast of stability and change.  If we could expand the length of this video to 24 hours, we would see even more change.  The ebb and flow of people and traffic and light would change. 
    If we could expand the video to a month, we could see more coats and scarves emerging.  We could see the huge Christmas tree being installed.
    If we could expand the time frame to a year, we would see the streets packed for a few frames with the Cheonan Dance Festival.  We would see the changing of the seasons.  We would also see Yaoori change to ShinSeGye
    If we could expand the time frame to ten years, we would see the art plaza remodeled and the addition of the flower spear.  We would see the renovation of the river, construction projects, changing fashions, and businesses moving in and out.
    If we could expand the time frame to one hundred years in the same location, we would see Cheonan arise out of the rice fields and pine forests.  We would see North Korean tanks roll in during the Battle of Cheonan.  Even earlier, we might see occupying Japanese soldiers and cars replacing horse drawn carts.
    If we could expand it to one thousand years, what would we see?  Maybe kings on their way to the OnYang springs.  Maybe invasions by the Mongols or the Manchu. 

The Hiding Place - Review

I grew up with my mom talking about The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boon.  She told and retold several of the stories until I felt like I had already read the book.  In my university ethics class, the professor referenced Corrie Ten Boon's ethical disagreements with her sister about whether it is ever OK to lie - even when lying might protect a human life.  Corrie Ten Boon's story has taken on the aura of a modern Christian legend.
As I picked up the book to read, I honestly had a mixture of interest and skepticism.  The interest came from the recognition that it must be a classic for a reason, and I guess the skepticism came from the postmodern distrust of easy answers from modernism.  Both my interest and my skepticism were rewarded, though not in equal measure. 
I was entranced by the story of Corrie's Dutch family's resistance to Nazism through underground work and care for the weak.  This was one of those books that I found myself reading at every spare minute at home.  Also, the way Corrie's family engages their faith in a good God while evil triumphs temporarily was fascinating and heart-warming.
A few times, though, I found myself uncomfortable with Corries sense that God was working in the tiny details of her life.  I heard the echos of my doubting friends in my head.  "If God could miraculously smuggle a Bible into her prison cell, why didn't he just eliminate the prison all together?" 
However, the co-existence of obvious tiny miracles and huge evils pushed me toward humility in determining what God should do in our world.  This juxtaposition pushed on me the realization that God can't always do what God wants to do because we humans often resist his desires. 
Also, Corrie found that even problems like fleas in their concentration camp barracks could become blessings (annoying critters that kept the even more bothersome German guards away).  Again, this pushed me toward humility - realizing that we often cannot see the total picture of what is good or bad for us at a given time.  The best response to all our circumstances is joyful trust in our Father - even if that does seem irrational or even lame at times.
This is a very good read, and although I don't agree with her perspective 100% percent, I certainly agree with and am inspired by her heart and life.
The Josh rating: JJJJ.