When God Doesn't Heal: Receiving God's Formative Grace Through Bodily Pain

Abstract

In this article, I attempt to make theological sense of the following attitude towards Divine healing: although followers of Jesus should hope for, pray for, contend for, and seek Divine healing with the expectation that in all things God is enacting his good purposes, they should not be surprised when Divinely caused healing does not come about. To “not be surprised” is not, in this case, a lack of faith in God’s desire or power to heal. We can have complete faith in God’s power and his intention to do good while recognizing God has other purposes that make Divinely caused healing the exception rather than the rule. To not be surprised that healing hasn’t yet come is to hold steady in our minds that God is powerfully active in salvation history in ways that do not always include immediate elimination of pain and suffering.