When I was eighteen years old, my mother passed away. The cancer she had fought for almost two years got the best of her body despite the prayers of many people believing God for healing. One of the questions that many people had was why didn't God heal my mother, a pastor's wife and school directress who caused such an impact in the lives of other people?
God doesn't always do things the way popular culture would dictate, but as Christians we believe that God's ways are always better than our ways. Isaiah 55:9 tells us, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (ESV). To this day, I don't know why God couldn't heal my mother from cancer; it just seemed more logical to keep her around longer.
Every now and then, we can struggle with times when God does not bring about healing to His people. Jesus has all the power to bring healing to even the most terrible diseases. He's done it before and He continues to do it today, but He doesn't do it for everyone.
But even through the most terrible cancers to the mildest headaches, we can hope in two things: One, that God uses all situations including the bad to mold us into the people He wants us to be. The times we are weakest is the time God is strongest. Romans 8:28 also tells us, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose" (ESV). Health doesn't always work out the way we want it to, but God uses everything—yes, including sickness—for His purpose.
The second hope we have is the hope found in knowing that one day, perhaps decades from now, we will have a body that will be free from all diseases and sickness. God may not heal us in this broken and sinful body, but the day will come when the saints will enjoy a full and whole body void of hurt, pain, sickness, illness, virus and even death itself.
How I wish that all sicknesses could disappear in one day, but this broken world tainted with sin is not our final destination. God has prepared a better earth and better bodies for us all. While we may get sick here on earth, and while we won't always be healed of disabilities and ailments, we look forward to the day when Jesus will restore our bodies to their perfection, void of sin and ailments, and we also will learn to endure the sufferings on this earth and still be filled with joy and peace even in the hardest times.
