God is Sovereign, and He Will Heal Me if He Wants To [False Views of Sickness 8]

“God is sovereign, and He’ll heal me if He wants to” sounds good on the surface, but is the concept accurate? Does it reveal God's true heart and our part in receiving healing? 

In the last post, we looked at false view number 7: God is Sovereign and Allowing This Sickness for His Purposes. Today’s post looks at the question of God’s sovereignty from a different angle. God is sovereign, and if He wants me to be healed, He will do it. There is undoubtedly a bit of truth to that statement, but does it convey the overall thrust of the Bible when it comes to healing?

“God is sovereign, and He’ll heal me if He wants to” sounds good on the surface, but is the concept accurate? Does it reveal God's true heart and our part in receiving healing? 

In the last post, we looked at false view number 7: God is Sovereign and Allowing This Sickness for His Purposes. Today’s post looks at the question of God’s sovereignty from a different angle. God is sovereign, and if He wants me to be healed, He will do it. There is undoubtedly a bit of truth to that statement, but does it convey the overall thrust of the Bible when it comes to healing?

Problems with the View

A few problems come to mind when I think about the statement.

It is Passive

There is no faith in this statement. “If” suggests that you have nothing to do with healing and that it is up to God to do what He alone will do. If you are going to be healed, it's all on God. After all, He is sovereign, and you wouldn’t be sick if He hadn’t allowed it.

The idea that God has allowed this sickness for some reason causes you to accept it as part of His will for your life. If He allowed it, why should you seek to change it? He will heal you if He wants to. You go through life with no real expectation of being healed. You sit passively and wait for God to do something.

It is Fatalistic

This kind of thinking leaves you fatalistic. You have no real hope for healing because if God wanted you healed, you would be. So, there is no real hope or expectation that God will heal. You just sit back and see what will happen.

It is easy to make statements like, “God is all-powerful and can do anything He wants to.” This sounds good on the surface but requires no faith. Of course, God can do whatever He desires. He has the power and the ability. He is the creator of everything and can do signs, wonders, and miracles.

Just because we believe God can do something does not mean we think He will. We can believe that God can heal us without faith that He will.

It is Unbelief

Stating that God can heal in no way shows that you have faith that He will. This is clear to me, as I have prayed with people many times, and they have no expectation that God will heal them. Or if they do express faith, it is always for the future, not the present.

“God can heal me” and “God will heal me in the future” are similar. They do not express an active faith. It is only something that can happen and may happen but rarely will happen.

The Solution is Faith

Everything we have in our walk with Christ is accessed through faith. Everything! Jesus has already done it all. There’s nothing left for Him to do. We have everything we need for life and godliness. Jesus already bore your sins, sorrows, sicknesses, and diseases.

Here are a few Scriptures that speak of God's promises to us through Christ.

Isaiah 53:4-5 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,

And our pains that He carried;

Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,

Struck down by God, and humiliated.But He was pierced for our offenses,

He was crushed for our wrongdoings;

The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, 

Psalm 103:1-5Bless the Lord, my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.Bless the Lord, my soul,

And do not forget any of His benefits;Who pardons all your guilt,

Who heals all your diseases;Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with favor and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Matthew 15:30-31And large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Faith is Directed to Jesus

In the Matthew 15 passage above and throughout the New Testament, faith is directed toward Jesus. People brought the sick and demon-afflicted to Jesus. Wherever He went, people would find Him.

Jesus was a constant focus of attention. So many people would come to Jesus, and He would no longer have peace. He would have to get up early, before dawn, to find time to pray. When He sailed away from one group of people, they would follow Him and find Him on the other shore.

We see healing after healing because people were pursuing Jesus for healing. There was no passivity in the crowds. They were not waiting to see if Jesus would come to their house to heal them. They were hunting Jesus down and bringing themselves and their family members to be healed. And Jesus did just that: He healed those who came to Him.

Faith is Active

There is an example of a person who came to Jesus and said something similar to the idea of “God is sovereign, and He will heal me if He wants to.” It is the story of a leper who said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

He says almost the exact words, “If you are willing.” Doesn’t that mean he is making the same statement that God will heal if He wants to? What is the difference between “if He wants to” and “if you are willing”? Let’s read the story, and I’ll tell you.

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. And a man with leprosy came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (Matthew 8:1-3)

The difference is the heart attitude of the one speaking the words. The first is passive and makes a true statement but without expecting God to do anything. God can, and I must sit and wait to see if He will.

The second is active. This person went out of his way to get to Jesus and express his heart to the Lord. He has faith because he has come to Jesus. He is telling Jesus that if He is willing, He could heal him.

This leper might not have known if Jesus was willing, but he had seen enough people being touched miraculously that he was willing to put his faith in the Lord and make his declaration to Jesus.

Jesus was willing to heal him, so He touched Him. The healing was immediate. This man’s active faith was rewarded with health and wholeness. He could return to his family and society because of coming to Jesus in faith.

Faith Expects Results

One of my favorite stories is about the woman who pressed through the crowd, knowing that she would be healed if she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Here is her story.

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.”(Mark 9:25-34)

This woman was pursuing Jesus with great expectation. Here was another person who, like the leper, was considered unclean. For whatever reason, she had faith that if she touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she would be healed. She just knew it.

So she pressed through the crowd. There were so many people in the crowd that Jesus had to ask who touched Him. The disciples were amazed that He would ask such a question because so many in the crowd were pressing into Him.

The moment she touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak, the power went out of Him and into her, and she was healed. Jesus tells us why she was healed. It was her faith. She believed she would be healed, and she was. Her expectations were realized in Jesus.

Faith is Belief

Faith believes Jesus is the answer. Faith is seen through our actions. This story reveals the intentions of four friends who would not take no for an answer.

When Jesus came back to Capernaum a few days later, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer space, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And some people *came, bringing to Him a man who was paralyzed, carried by four men. And when they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralyzed man was lying. And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, *said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:1-12)

Here is another example of people crowding around Jesus. There were so many people that four friends carried a paralyzed man on a pallet. There was no way they could get near the door. They refused to be stopped. They knew he would be healed if they could get their friend to Jesus. They just knew it.

The proof of their belief was seen in their actions. They could not get to Jesus normally through the door, so they decided to break open the roof and let him down into the room with Jesus. Now, that takes faith.

By the way, the passage above says that Jesus saw their faith. It was right before His eyes. Who could doubt these four men believed Jesus would heal their friend? They proved it in their tenacity and boldness to rip open the roof. Nothing would stop them.

Their faith resulted in a paralyzed man standing up, picking up his pallet, and walking out of the house to the amazement of all who could see it. The people glorified God and declared they had never seen anything like this before. Faith believes.

By now, you can see the difference between a passive and active approach to healing. The first makes great declarations with no true faith response. The second actively pursues Jesus for healing. 

I encourage you to be the second type, to press into Jesus for healing, and to remember the faith that receives answers.

Faith is directed toward Jesus

Faith is active

Faith expects results

Faith is belief

P.S. If this post helped stimulate your faith, tell me why in the comments below.