Short Prayers? What about healing?
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror. My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O LORD– how long? (Psalm 6:2b-3)
Chronic Pain
Jenny suffers from a chronic pain. It is the legacy of surgery she underwent some years ago. The surgeon could not diagnose the source of the pain. So, he operated a second time. No improvement. She has been beset if not tormented with the affliction ever since.
Some days it is worse, inhibiting her normal activity. Most of the time its presence is marked by an unyielding ache, a discomforting malaise.
Now, if she could find the cause, she thought, perhaps we could cure it. So she embarked on a search that lasted about four years. Jenny exhausted the diagnostic resources of Kaiser Hospital, where the original surgery took place. No help. She then went to the neurological research center at the university hospital. No, it’s not a severed nerve. She tried a pain clinic. No relief. Then a chiropractor. Then acupuncture. Nothing could relieve her of the scourge. Finally, Jenny’s evangelical friends talked her into trying a faith healer.
Does Faith Heal?
At the appointed time and place, the faith healer made it plain: if Jenny had enough faith, then God would heal her on the spot. If Jenny failed to be healed, then this would be evidence that she is lacking in faith. Such was the theological logic.
So, hands were laid upon her and the prayers began. The God of healing was invoked.
In earnestness everyone present that day wanted one and only one thing, good health for Jenny.
But, alas, nothing happened. Jenny went home with the same pain she had arrived with. Her close friends were disappointed, even discouraged. Everyone felt let down.
Her friends interrogated themselves. Had they prayed hard enough? Had they been as sincere in heart as they could be? Not wanting to blame Jenny for a lack of faith, they asked themselves: how had they failed? Despite this self-flagellation, there was no weakness in prayer. There was no lack of sincerity. We cannot even call it a failure, if we are speaking about a failure in expressing the love that friends have for one another.
Why do some people suffer and others do not? I don’t know. Neither did Job. Neither did the preacher in Ecclesiastes. Neither do theologians who ask the question of theodicy: if God is both powerful and loving, then why is there suffering? What we learn from the cross of Jesus–this is called the Theology of the Cross–is that it is God who is the victim of suffering, not the perpetrator. In short, God suffers with Jenny,.
As for Jenny, the verdict seemed to be clear: somebody lacked sufficient faith. Was it Jenny who lacked faith? Or her evangelical friends who prayed?
It appeared that Jenny had trusted too much in medical science. And medical science had let her down. It appeared that she could not transfer her allegiance fully enough to God to warrant God’s helping her out of this difficulty. So it appeared.
Faith versus Love
Yet, this question about her faith is not the end of the story. There is more. It has to do with philial love. She told me, “I really wanted so much to be healed, not just for myself, but for them. I was worried that if I weren’t healed, it might weaken their faith. I hope I didn’t let them down.” Note: Jenny was more concerned about her friends’ faith than about her own healing.
St. Paul has a high opinion of faith. He concludes the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians by saying that “faith, hope and love abide, these three.” Then he adds, “but the greatest of these is love.” Jenny had love, plenty of it.
PRAYER
Heavenly healer of body and soul, where we lack faith fill us with love. Amen.
▓
Ted Peters is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus seminary professor. He is author of Short Prayers and The Cosmic Self. His one volume systematic theology is now in its 3rd edition, God—The World’s Future (Fortress 2015). He has undertaken a thorough examination of the sin-and-grace dialectic in two works, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans 1994) and Sin Boldly! (Fortress 2015). Watch for his forthcoming, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
▓
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In