You’ve done all you could: you’ve prayed, you’ve fasted, went to all the right doctors, asked the opinion of every expert and they all tell you the same thing: ”we don’t know what is wrong with you”; or, they do know what the issue is but they have no cure, no solution, vaccine, ointment, pill, treatment, lifestyle and, above all, no amount of money can buy you, earn you, or get your hands on your healing.
You’ve gone to the pastor, the men’s group, Friday night service, Saturday morning prayer breakfast: you’ve done it all, and no amount of intercessory prayer has broken down this wall, this barrier, this obstacle for you. God has simply, at best, said either “not now” or, at worse, “no”; when all you wanted to hear was a resounding “YES”.
When the healing doesn’t come
You think back to all the times you quoted Job to yourself and to others. Unfortunately, as the song lyrics can attest to: “it’s easy to sing when there’s nothing that brings me down, but what will I say when I’m held to the flames like I am right now”?
Read The Plans God has for you!
You remember your conviction-full “amen”’s when the pastor would say “either He is God of all or He isn’t God at all”. It seems like someone has come to collect on all of your affirmations of faith; a trial by fire to see if you would “curse Him to [His] face” as the Devil said Job would do.
What do you do when the healing doesn’t come
What do you do when the healing doesn’t come; when the night is too long when the pain is too great? The psalmist remarked that he would have “fainted had I not believed that I would see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. The Land of the Living is both here and the Kingdom! How else could Job affirm that “though He slays me yet will I trust Him!”. What was there to trust in Him for? The answer: more than you could ever imagine!
For born-again, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing Christians, living is the hard sell; dying is gain”! G.K Chesterton once remarked that,
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried”.
In these difficult times, where the world, the flesh, and the mind are thinking and talking about anything and everything but God, do as David did and encourage yourself “in the Lord”! Life for Christians is a win-win proposition: God assures us that, if we put our trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and follow Him and live circumspectly to His precepts in this life, He will watch over us and guide through the hills and valleys for the furtherance of His Kingdom and, when He’s good and ready, bring us Home to Glory and that alone is worth the trouble!
As Kingdom Men, it is our honor and responsibility to live out this life as ambassadors of the King: to show our wives, children, and all those around us that a life in Christ is not only possible but preferable to the secular alternatives. When the hard days come, not if, let us have the mind of Christ and fight the good fight in faith.
Our children need to see that trials come so that God’s glory can be manifested in our lives. Just like the three Hebrew boys who were not removed from the fire but joined in it by the Angel of the Lord; just like Daniel in the lion’s den who was not spared from the lion but kept warm by him through the night.
Let’s be available for God to show His glory through us as a witness to those around us. And perhaps just as important, if not more so, let us show our children that, as Job said, “Thou He slay me, yet will I trust Him“. Whether God has life in store for us, a martyr’s death, or a life of patient suffering, let us be like Paul and live out the words he was told in prayer, “My Grace is sufficient for you“.
Bondservant to Jesus Christ, Married to Michele, Dad to Madelyn, Claudia, and Joseph and educator by trade, apologist by calling and saved by Grace. Antonio loves to read, write, and discuss all-things-apologetics. He has many passions in life including reaching, teaching, and keeping men for Jesus Christ. Waiting on God’s big reveal: Antonio knows He has something beautiful in mind.
