Why isn’t God healing me?

READER QUESTION TO OUR WEBSITE:

Why doesn’t God heal everybody who asks?  Why are babies born with defects or diseases and dying?  I’ve been a “good” person all my life, yet today I am suffering with many problems.  God promises, “Ask and ye shall receive” and Isaiah 53 says that we are healed by his stripes!  Well, I’ve been asking for years, but I’m not receiving healing.  Makes me wonder if he even exists!

OUR RESPONSE:

The short answer to your question is:  (1)  He heals whomever He chooses to heal (see Matthew 8); and (2)  unless one is on His Path, obeying His Torah, He doesn’t even hear their prayers (Proverbs 28:9).  See also 1 John 5:13-21.

The longer response:

Yes, Isaiah 53:5 tells us that “by his stripes we are healed.”  But this refers not to physical health; rather, to the state of our souls, as human beings cannot be the Presence of ADONAI unless their souls are cleansed from the inside-out.  Yeshua’s divine blood did that for us.  Believers will get to live with YHWH forever in Eternity, where there is no sickness nor death….

As for physical healing, it’s all up to Him.  While our bodies are certainly prone to sickness and disease, we must also ask ourselves whether WE caused our own problems.  For instance, did we take care of our temples, or did we abuse them with food, drugs or alcohol?   Were we monogamous, or did we “sleep around” (1 Thessalonians 4:3)?  Let’s be realistic:  If, after a lifetime of sinning and doing whatever we wanted, will He be willing to “suddenly heal us” overnight, just because we are now Believers?   Can the damage of a lifetime be reversed, simply because we ask?

We must remember that, although healing may not happen immediately upon asking, it is imperative to understand haShem’s “bigger perspective of our lives.” It could be that, rather than to heal us, He might choose to use the particular malady and struggles of a true and obedient Believer as an example of true faith and loyalty for others to see….

We are in a fallen world and bad things can happen to anybody. The key is how we react to both, the good and the bad times/situations. Do we immediately whine and cry and blame God whenever things are bad? Or do we act like mature believers who realize we are in a "fallen world" where "stuff happens" and that, no matter what, a better life awaits us in Eternity? Your reactions to life's situations will help YHWH separate the sheep from the goats on Judgment Day....

So, yes, bad things happen to us in this fallen world!  But, the truth is, there no easy answer as to why God allows "bad things to happen to good people!"  If nothing else, we MUST try to remember that YHWH does some of His best work in and through "broken vessels" - those who have suffered and grown stronger in their faith because of their suffering. We must learn to recognize that "bad times" are all part of our growing process. After all, where the sun always shines, there's a desert below....

So, keep the faith, and keep your eyes on the end goal, which is Eternity with our Creator.  In the end, nothing else really matters.