A few of us were at the Le Calvados restaurant last weekend. It is just down the street from our house, but it was a great meal and wonderful company.

I continue to struggle with some of my friends’ beliefs. These concern healing. A couple of people in church have been afflicted with neuro/nervous conditions and they have been consistently seeking prayers from elders, intercessors and visiting speakers. I feel for them. I still do not underst the thinking behind it. I have tried to do a bit of simple research and it didn’t take me very long to come to a position, which as it turned out, is the position many theologians also concluded.

The position is simply that the healing talked about in Isaiah 53 is a spiritual healing. There is no promise of physical healing with atonement. Am I making the verse fit my experience, maybe? My experience has been that God doesn’t heal all physical illness. I don’t know why this is conveniently overlooked by those who insist physical healing is part of atonement. How do they reconcile that belief with the countless who are sick, remain sick and eventually die, not of old age type of natural causes but of these diseases?

Some have said those who are sick and remain so, either did not believe enough or allowed negative words or thoughts to take over. Again I don’t understand how that works. I believe God heals, but He doesn’t always heal. Whether He does and when He does, is entirely up to Him. His desire and will to heal will never be negated by our unbelief or negative thoughts or words. His ability and will to heal is bigger and more powerful that our unbelief or negative thoughts or words. He heals despite our  unbelief or negative thoughts or words.

K has a condition with the brain. It is degenerating. The symptoms started with a loss of balance. That has now deteriorated to an extent where not just motor coordination is lost, but even speech is starting to become a problem. S had a nerve condition. A bacteria attack caused a loss of motor coordination as well, and speech too is a problem.

Obviously, both yearn to be healed. Both are constantly provided with the message that all they got to do is believe, claim and not doubt or be negative. I don’t know how the church could go on telling them this when it is the wisdom and sovereignty of God alone to determine what happens to them. They should not be made to think it is somehow their fault – insufficient faith or not being positive enough – which is stopping them becoming better. It is bad enough for them to have these debilitating conditions, they don’t need to also be told it is their fault. It is so wrong.