Our bodies are much with us. We would have difficulty in describing ourselves without our mortal bodies. And yet, our bodies may be the most expendable of the factors that make up who and what we are. At eighteen years of age, if not before, we begin to decline, but believe the process will take considerable time, so do not give much attention to death, the sure end of our few mortal decades. This very Page that will record some of my thoughts today will outlast the body and brain that freighted those thoughts to a machine and paper. However, the care of the body has priority with mortal life. We care for it, cleanse it, feed it, present it, use it to replicate ourselves in other generations, decorate it, and follow its pressures on our minds, passions, habits. There is much more to be added, but our central thought here relates to the care and healing of the perishable body. Time (seeming long) makes us cavalier about health and healing for the body when we are young. It is to be emphasized that all mortal bodies will sometime need healing (repair). Birth, life, decline and death are inevitable for mankind – all related to healing.
Let it be clear that all healing comes from God, whether through natural processes, medical intervention, or prayer to miracle – all come from God’s provision. We have little problem with the medical approaches that use nature (like rest, diet, exercise, chemicals/medicines and other factors), or even psychological procedures related to attitudes, mental balances, aspirations, and the like often related to psychosomatic influences. Then there is the miraculous concept of healing, related to God, which cannot be explained through natural processes or logic. This last, healing miracles (and other miracles as well), were, according to the Bible, major occurrences in the transitions of the times of Moses, of the prophets (Elijah and Elisha); and Jesus with the Apostles to offer some authority for the change from the pre-Christian order to the fulfillment order in the arrival of the expected Messiah, and the order installed by him. To achieve so great transition, Jesus permitted miracle to be evidence to the people of his authority. If his healing ministry were not miraculous, then it was in some way natural. Luke, a physician, did not hesitate to record miracles in both the Gospel bearing his name and The Acts of the Apostles. He embraced miracle. Accepting miracles for our time takes some careful understanding. Even if everything were in divine order, one is careful in presuming miracles. During my lifetime I have observed the excesses of faith healers from snake handlers to private prayer vigils. Some have been held in large gatherings of persons seeking to see examples of healing. Persons prayed for, may swoon, the verbal/physical responses may seem excessive. There may appear arrogance as the practitioner follows his/her programs. Some persons may have been assigned to toss a garment over a swooning lady who may have fallen in an immodest position. So the story goes. Many persons deplore this kind of programming and exhibition. Studies of observers suggest that there appears to be little healing, if any, in the alleged results. None of this excessive drama should reduce our faith. We are warned again, not to generalize from the exceptions in a context.
Study of healing ought to begin with a study of prayer. Prayer for the sick and dying in a congregation is a major part of prayer both private and public in the church body. If God will not heal, in some instances miraculously, then these prayers are not answered, except to request peace and acceptance for persons and families needing help to carry them through. It seems odd that we pray for the sick, and then doubt there is sometimes miracle. That there are miracles I have no doubt. But, they appear in contexts of deep faith, of humility, of awareness of the gifts of God to the glory of God that finds its first evidence, perhaps last, in the person touched by God. The deepest experiences I have had in relation to my Christian faith are known only to me. I would not want to expound on them for fear that they would be diminished by some rationale that omits the care and love of God. God cares, and will, on occasion, offer miracle to aid a person, or a nation. Healing of the body, when it occurs, is an answer to prayer for aid. No other help may be available. Now in my tenth decade and functional, I am a survivor of three bouts with cancer, and an assortment of other threats. I have no doubt of some mix of medicine, providence and miracle has occurred for me. Miracles are a grace of God perhaps unrecognized. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020