By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
Matthew 9:28-30
Have you ever said, ‘I believe that God is going to heal me’ or ‘I’m trusting God for a miracle’? Twenty-five years ago, I heard a Christian man with a cancer diagnosis make a similar statement.
The way he worded it bothered me. It sounded like something a Pentecostal TV preacher might say. The heretical prosperity gospel says that it is never God’s will for us to be sick. We will never reach that conclusion if we let the Bible speak for itself.
Saying, ‘I have faith that God is going to heal me’ sounds like a great statement of faith, but it may actually be a statement of rebellion against the will of God unless we add, ‘if it is His will.’
Notice the precise question that our Lord asked these blind men. It was a question of ability or possibility. When they replied in the affirmative, He healed their eyesight saying, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’
He healed them because they believed that He had the ability to heal them. But He also healed them because in His plan for their lives, it was best that He heal them.
Ability to heal does not equal a will to heal.
All the Lord required of these blind men was faith in His ability, and that’s all He requires of us. I must trust that He can, but that is no guarantee that He will.
The Lord Jesus was able to come down from the cross, but seeing the bigger picture, it was His will to stay there and purchase salvation for us. The two on the road to Emmaus said, ‘But we trusted…’ (Luke 24:21). What they expected did not occur in the way they anticipated.
No matter how much faith I have, God’s will always trumps my will.
The Apostle Paul certainly believed that his ‘thorn in the flesh’ could be removed, and he prayed accordingly. But according to 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, it was God’s will for that ‘thorn’ to remain in Paul’s life for a greater purpose.
There are some ‘thorns in the flesh’ that each of us carry, or will bear in the future. More than anything we want those thorns to be removed. Yet they are put there by God for a very good reason. He has the right to answer our prayers with a firm and loving ‘no.’
Seemingly senseless suffering is actually a tool in the hands of our loving Lord to conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 12:9). We know we are not placed on earth to be happy, but to make God happy (Revelation 4:11). He is most pleased when we are most like Jesus Christ.
Let’s believe that He can perform that miracle that we desire. But keep submitting to His perfect will.
Father, You expect me to believe in Your power to intervene for good. Sometimes in Your good and wise plans, it’s Your plan not to accomplish something that You could accomplish. When what You want and what I want clash, help me to cheerfully submit to Your better and wiser plan for my life. My life is Yours to direct. You are welcome to take me home whenever You wish. Help me to live each day to the full in the service of my Saviour. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ our Saviour, Amen.
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.