Unflinching

"Why'd God wait?"

I BELIEVE Jesus is our Healer. The Word is simply too full of Truth that proves it. And there are testimonies of those healed in modern times, as well. Many amazing miracles. I have my own story. God healed me of migraines and so much else. It changes you to face death. Then to survive it and overcome it. I have discovered a mindset, a greater thinking pattern comes, when you must endure. Some problems don’t simply disappear.

Where is God in this? A question asked on repeat.

We look for instant. The pulpit preaches instant and the touch of God to raise the dead. The miracles of Jesus in the gospels are held in front of us. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you can find the healing of every part of the body. From the eyes and ears, to the tongue, the brain and the mind, the heart and circulatory system, the legs, ankles and feet, young and old, male and female, including barren wombs and birth defects, are healed. There is a curious story in Acts, though, of a man whom Jesus must’ve passed by many times. A man lame from birth sat at the temple gate, day in and day out, asking alms. Not until Peter and John passed by was he healed, though (Acts 3:6).

Why’d God wait?

It says Jesus healed entire multitudes, yet He passed the lame man at the temple gate. He sought out the man at the pool of Bethesda. That man had been sick 38 years. No tellin’ how long he’d sat there, hoping. Jesus walked miles into Samaritan territory to speak to a woman at a well. He sailed the lake of Galilee in a storm to set a tormented man free. They saw him seated and in his right mind.

But no healing for the man at the gate.

In a similar vein is the prophecy given to Peter. Jesus told him how he would die when he had decades left to live. How does Peter rise each day with that knowledge? Seems like it’d eat at you. Instead, what God is asking all of us to do is to give Him 100%. Illness, physical disabilities, even knowledge like Peter’s, sits us down immediately in that place. What a healthy man can mentally avoid, a man trusting God for each day, for each hour in the day, cannot.

God has given us endurance. We call that neglect.

What God should do instantly, we hold before Him like a curtain, which blocks our view. But the truth is, we must see ourselves as capable through Him. He is WITH US. He walks the path in the valley at our side (Psalm 23:4).

When the pain comes, when we can’t get up and do what a normal person can do, when no surgery or pill can “fix this”, we must refuse to let go of our strength in Him. And that includes patience. It includes peace only He can give. How’s that work, though? There are some things words cannot explain. Only being there teaches you. A man with a speech impediment calls himself blessed. A woman blind, deaf, and mute expresses her gratitude to God for His daily care. A handsome young man with deformed hands holds them to the camera saying the moment when he overcame was when he raised them to heaven.

And for me, it’s telling this to you. We must refuse to give up.

“Who, then, shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Shall problems, or hardships, or criticism, or persecution, or hunger, or disease, or homelessness, or nakedness, or imprisonment, or financial ruin, or terrorists, or war? … In all things—no matter what we face—we are more than conquerors through trust in him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35,37, Remedy)

“The secret to real peace and contentment is an abiding trust in Christ—realizing that my strength comes from him; and through the peace, strength, wisdom and perspective that Christ gives me, I can handle whatever happens.” (Philippians 4:13, Remedy)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com