Where does Healing Come From?

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life…’” Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” (Isaiah 38:1-5,21)

The record of King Hezekiah’s life; his illness, his prayer, and what the Lord spoke to him, provide valuable insights for us regarding healing. Let’s take a look at some of the principles this historical account teaches us.

First, healing comes from God, the one who created us. God also controls the timing of our physical death. Hezekiah developed some kind of sickness, and God sent word to him through the prophet Isaiah that he was not going to recover – he was going to die. Hezekiah then cries and prays to God. God hears his prayer, and decides to add fifteen years to his life. After delivering this message from God to Hezekiah that he would recover, Isaiah then uses “a poultice of figs” to apply to his skin disease as a remedy. If Isaiah (or anyone else) had tried to use this natural remedy prior to the Lord declaring that Hezekiah was going to be healed, it would not have worked. God made the decision: Hezekiah and Isaiah just followed his directions.

Modern day science is based on the foundation of evolution, and the belief that the universe is a closed system. It sees the universe in primarily physical terms. To have such a belief, one is forced to not believe in God or creation. However, God does exist, and his existence is not limited to the confines of his creation, e.g. the universe. He also exists outside of it. Therefore the universe cannot be a closed system. God created it, and he interacts with it as he chooses. The historical records of the life of Jesus show that Jesus constantly defied what evolutionists would call “the laws of nature” by doing such as things as walking on water, turning water into wine, healing diseases, and even raising dead people back to life.

Unfortunately, modern day medicine and modern day naturalism/alternative health primarily base their systems of healing on the evolutionary foundation which believes in a closed system. Healing is believed to exist primarily within the physical realm. So the medical system trusts in its medicines, and the naturalist trusts in natural substances such as herb, nutrients, etc. That these physical remedies do indeed have therapeutic value cannot be denied, even as people during the days of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah probably understood that “poultices of figs” also had therapeutic value. But as noted above, God had already spoken regarding Hezekiah’s condition, and no natural or man-made remedy could have changed that. Among all the medicines and natural remedies known to man today, none of them affect healing 100% of the time. People still get sick, and people still die.

The second major principle we can learn from this account of King Hezekiah, is that God hears people’s prayers, and he is moved by them. The fact that God can “change his mind” regarding future events is also documented in other places in the scriptures. One of the best stories is the one of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was sent to preach against one of Israel’s enemies and go to the city of Nineveh. He tried to resist God, but that was futile. So he entered the city and proclaimed the word of the Lord, which was that Nineveh was going to be destroyed within 40 days because of their great sin. But as was similar in the story about Hezekiah, prayer was offered up to God, and God changed his mind:

When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:6-10)

Could it be that in the case of Hezekiah God was allowing certain things he had sown in his life to take their course in his illness until Hezekiah humbled himself before God and came to a point of recognizing his own sins and shortcomings, much like what happened with the king and citizens of Nineveh? I think we have the answer in Hezekiah’s own words after he was healed:

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. (Isaiah 38:17)

Hezekiah apparently saw his illness as an opportunity to humble himself before God and change his ways. He could not say “you have put all my sins behind your back” if he was not aware that he had sinned against God. His illness humbled him and made him aware of his failures before God, and he turned to God for forgiveness and help. That was a good thing, and it moved God to change his mind!

Contrast that with the way our modern culture approaches healing today. Starting with a presupposition of a universe that is a closed system and where God does not exist, we approach all illness as a result of “natural causes” that can be observed through empiricism. God is never considered, and any sins committed against God are considered only as part of religion, and certainly not part of modern day healing. Spiritual health conditions are almost never related to physical health conditions. Remedies are sought only in the physical realm, and restoring one’s relationship to their Creator is not considered.

As I have noted in other writings (see links below), such a narrow concept of health and healing is a recent phenomenon in human history. Even within ancient Greek culture, which brought to us empiricism and much of the beginnings of modern day "science" academic thought, they believed in a spirit world and approached healing from not just the physical realm, but also the spiritual. They looked to their Greek gods, such as Apollo and Zeus, for healing in addition to using physical remedies. They understood that there was a spiritual aspect of health also, and they sought the favor of their gods.

I have also noted in other articles that our personal sins are not always a direct cause of our sickness. Sometimes our health can suffer through the sins of others, or from direct causal relationships to things such as pollution or toxins in our environment. But the source of healing is always the same in all circumstances, whether we recognize it or not.

I am the LORD, who heals you. (Exodus 15:26)

Where do you see the source of healing coming from? Who do you turn to when you are sick? When you are healed, who do you give credit to?

O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. (Psalms 30:2)

The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalms 41:3)

Related Articles:

Do Doctors Really Heal?

What is Health?

Who is Responsible for Providing Healthcare?

Who do You Run to When You are Sick?

Was this information helpful to you? Share it with others:

The Key to Happiness and Long Life

Would you like to enjoy life? Do you want long life and happiness? (Psalms 34:12)

I come across articles and advertisements quite frequently within the world of nutrition, natural foods, and alternative health that advertise or make claims to supply “long life” and happiness. There is even a whole field of science today called “longevity” which studies ways of slowing down the aging process. While there is wisdom and good practical advice within this field, it comes up short of delivering what is promised or hoped for, because of the way our culture defines “happiness” and “long life”. Happiness is usually thought of as a life free of stress and troubles, and long life is concerned only with our short (compared to eternity) life here on earth.

When you study the writings of King David in the Psalms, you learn a lot about happiness and longevity. It is interesting that the prelude to Psalm 34 does not put David safe and secure in his royal palace at the time of writing this Psalm. It puts him in that period of his life where he was constantly on the run from King Saul, who was always trying to kill him. He had to hide in caves and constantly keep moving to keep King Saul and his forces from finding him. That meant at times going to foreign countries that were enemies of Israel, and trying to convince the leaders of these countries not to kill him also. At times he apparently pretended to be insane to these foreign rulers just to protect himself. Doesn’t exactly sound like a happy existence with a future, does it?

But David never defined happiness as the absence of conflicts or struggles. On the contrary, happiness was found in the midst of them. Psalm 34 gives us the keys to David’s contentment in the face of life’s difficulties, and he instructs us how to live a long life with happiness.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. (Psalms 34:4-10)

When David faced difficulties in life, he turned to his Creator for help. David had a relationship with God. He knew that God loved him, and he trusted God to take care of him through all of the junk life can throw our way! As David ran for his life during the years Saul was trying to kill him, look at the statements of health that he wrote in the verses above. He prayed to God, and God delivered him from all his fears. His confidence in the Lord made him “radiant” and his face displayed joy instead of shame. His experiences in the presence of God are described as pleasant to his senses, as he uses such words as “taste” and “see.” In his distress he did not suffer from hunger and weakness – the Lord provided for all his needs, because he looked to the Lord alone as the source of everything he desired.

David enjoyed life, even in the midst of persecution and tremendous difficulties. He also wanted others to enjoy life as he did, and live long on the earth, so he wrote the secret to enjoying life and living long on the earth:

Come, my young friends, and listen to me, and I will teach you to honor the LORD. Would you like to enjoy life? Do you want long life and happiness? Then keep from speaking evil and from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart. (Psalms 34:11-14)

It is very interesting that the first thing David wrote as the key to happiness and long life is what comes off of our tongues! This is probably because our speech reflects what we believe and what is in our hearts. I have written about the healing power of words in another article. Our tongues have the power to destroy or heal others, and according to this statement by David it also affects our own life as well. If we are speaking things that are not true, we are out of step with our Creator and the purpose he created us. To be happy and live a long life on earth, we need to “Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart.”

The key to doing this is to understand that God is in control of all things, and that we don’t have to take things into our own hands every time something goes wrong in life. We have to trust that God has a master plan, far above and beyond everything we could possibly know, and that we just have to trust him. To think that life is meant to be free of troubles or concerns is a wrong perception of the truth and reality. So many people who are chasing happiness and longevity are pursuing an empty dream of something that does not exist in this life. This produces frustration and the desire to blame other people and other things for all our troubles. But David clearly writes here that happiness and long life are accomplished in the midst of troubles and difficulties in life, by having an attitude of trust and faith, and turning to God when we need help:

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all… (Psalms 34:15-19)

So the key to happiness and long life is not the absence of difficulties, but the proper attitude and response towards them. This attitude is much different than the world’s attitude of trying to control our environment and circumstances to produce a life free of troubles and difficulties, pursuing the false dream of something that does not exist in this life. Hence, our modern day culture has replaced faith in God with faith in science, technology, and medicine, foolishly believing that these man-made objects of our faith will produce happiness and longevity. The “naturalists” are not much different, concentrating mostly on the physical realm and simply replacing technology and medicines with vitamins, herbs, etc. But both approaches start out with the wrong presupposition about life (evolution) and the difficulties we face in life (survival of the fittest or ”advancing” in the evolutionary process), and how to deal with them, because they leave the Creator out of the discussion.

David then concludes this Psalm with this thought:

Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalms 34:21-22)

God has the last say. We are all mortal and we will all die a physical death and come face to face with our Creator. Those who have depended upon God and have gone through the spiritual rebirth process will not be condemned, because Jesus was condemned in our place. Those who trust in anything besides God throughout their life will suffer the consequences. So how you deal with life’s difficulties and pursue happiness and longevity in this life also affects what happens to you in the rest of eternity!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:16-21)

Was this information helpful to you? Share it with others:

The Health of Waiting

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill." Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:15-18)

The Jews were facing certain destruction at the hands of the Assyrian army. In the physical realm, it looked hopeless. The enemy was too strong! So they started to act in the way they thought was best, by looking to Egypt for help against a common enemy.

But God sent them a message through his messenger, the prophet Isaiah. The message: wait! The answer to their problem did not lie in alliances with other countries or by running away: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” The solution to their problem did not lie in the physical realm. The answer was in their relationship to their Creator. They needed to repent of their sins, and then simply wait in quietness and trust.

Waiting is difficult, however. It is always easier to take action immediately and take matters into our own hands. Yet learning to trust in the Lord and wait for His timing reaps great benefits! The leaders of Israel, who listened to the word of the Lord and waited, saw great victory in the face of seemingly hopeless situations. Read about King Hezekiah who did just that in 2 Kings 18:17 through 2 Kings 19. The result was that “the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp” forcing their troops to withdraw from their attack on Jerusalem. The Jews never even had to fight! The words of Isaiah were proven true: “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (See above)

Isaiah the prophet had a keen understanding of the principle of “waiting” upon God, and wrote about it often. He stated that those who waited upon God could gain great physical strength:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (Isa 40:28-31)

This phenomenon of great physical strength was observed many times among the people who waited for God in faith. David waited on God for probably more than 10 years before he was installed as king over Judah and Israel, and all during that time he faced tremendous persecution and had to constantly hide from King Saul who sought to kill him. A couple of times David had the opportunity to kill Saul himself and end the madness, but he refrained, choosing instead to wait for God’s timing. David’s writings in the Psalms frequently attest to the great advantages of waiting for God:

A Psalm of David. To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for you will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. Make me know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:1-5)

Waiting for the Lord is not strictly related to just the physical battlefield either. Waiting for God is related to faith in God, trusting that he controls all things and has a master plan where everything works out in the end to accomplish his purposes. Waiting is a kind of trust knowing that things as we see them now will not always be the same, because God controls the past, present, and future. This kind of waiting and faith takes away all cause for anger towards injustice, and the things in life that just don’t seem fair:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. (Psalms 37:7-9)

Today, unfortunately, we live in a world that has no patience, and where waiting has no value. We are taught that “time is money,” and time is seen as a commodity that can be bought and sold, and something that should not be wasted. But time is also eternal, and in light of eternity, its value for the present becomes greatly diminished. Believing that one has no time to wait, or no time to spend getting to know our Creator, is a huge misconception. When our current culture approaches the issue of sickness, for example, we believe that we don’t have time to wait for our healing, or an extended period of time to rest and to seek the Lord for understanding about what his purpose might be in our illness. Viewing time as a commodity and something that should not be wasted in “unproductive” rest and waiting, we seek “magic” pills instead to make us feel better, never taking the time to wait and understand what the underlying cause of our illness is, and the long-term cure, because we believe we don’t have time to wait. How tragic! The result is that today, “properly” prescribed drugs (separate from the recreational use of drugs which is also a big problem) is now the fourth leading cause of death in the US, causing more than 106,000 deaths each year. Unfortunately, impatience often kills. Waiting on the Lord, however, can bring great healing. Are you willing to wait?

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion... Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18)

Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:31)

Was this information helpful to you? Share it with others: