Our current pandemic has revealed many of the limits of our understanding of the human body. It has also revealed tensions between faith and science in the Christian community, with some Christians holding shoulder-to-shoulder maskless services indoors to express faith that God will protect them from the virus rather than common sense health protocols. I believe that this stance goes against the grain of the Bible, in which God gives health protocols to His people, including ones specifying quarantine times for various ailments, as an act of love to protect them from disease. Obedience to the principle of taking reasonable precautions is consistent with the Christian faith.
However, it would be unwise to practice all the sound science the world has to offer but neglect the beautiful tool of prayer. As this pandemic has painfully revealed, even those who follow every precaution can sometimes still get sick. We can follow scientific advice to encourage the health and healing God wants to give us, but God is ultimately the only physician who actually understands every ailment. For this reason, prayer is a vital part of the healing process, not opposed to science but participating with it for the best outcome possible. When illnesses beyond our current understanding of medical science arise, all we can do is pray, but prayer is no small thing. I have seen prayer literally bring people back to health from life-threatening illnesses, leaving their doctors confused over how it managed to happen. I’ve also seen prayer help direct people to courses of treatments they were previously unaware of that ultimately healed their ailment or gave them more time. Of course, I’ve also seen people die despite plenty of prayer being offered on their behalf. This is purely anecdotal, but in my experience, many have been people whose lives had already been extended before and were already living on gifted time. However, even in the case of lost infants--something that frequently happens despite a good deal of prayer-- it’s important to remember that death is not actually the worst thing that can happen to a person. One day, our Great Physician will bring them back from the grave and answer those “what if?” questions that haunt us so much when loved ones pass away too soon. Cooperating with our best understanding of medical science and trusting in our Great Physician to act from a place of wisdom, we have a beautiful privilege and responsibility to pray for the sick. For a healing prayer to work, it’s important to believe that it can work. I find it curious that in my Adventist faith, anointing has sort of come to be seen as last rites instead of what it is--a way of focusing prayers genuinely meant to heal. There is no special power in the oil; rather, having something physical to manipulate helps both the person praying and the recipient of the prayer connect with the reality of what they’re trying to accomplish. You do not have to use oil or even be in the sick person’s presence to pray for their healing, but the more concrete you can make it for both yourself and them, the better. The awareness of someone else’s prayers for one’s health can be a very real part of healing because of the mysterious link between the mind, body, and spirit. Being mindful of this mind-body-spirit link, it’s important to learn as much as you can about someone’s condition as you pray for their healing. When some people mention psychosomatic illness, they do so in a derogatory way to say that it’s all in the patient’s head. Actually, emotional suffering that spills into the body is dangerous enough to kill and can cause a good deal of very real physical agony. Medical doctors can’t always untangle symptoms caused or exacerbated by emotions from the infections and diseases their medicines and surgeries can actually fix. Listening compassionately to the patient before praying with them can help make it clearer what the prayer really needs to be about. It’s also important to listen to how God might be leading you to pray. He, the Great Physician, knows what most needs healing, and will steer you in the right direction. Then, you are ready to ask from a place of belief. When you ask, it might be tempting to hedge your bets with phrases like “if it’s Your will.” This is where the belief comes in. If you’ve listened well, you will pray within His will. He does not desire anyone to suffer without cause, and you can always confidently pray for Him to comfort and guide the sick person, knowing that He will do it. It does get a little dicier when you get into praying about specific symptoms or even about whether they will live or die, but start where your faith is strong and move on to the rest when you are ready. To that end, it is important to incorporate gratitude into prayers of healing, both before and after the person is healed. Gratitude itself can help with the healing process, both from a boring scientific perspective and from a faith perspective. Scientifically speaking, concentrating on what’s going well helps the physical healing process far more than dwelling on the negative; depression is terrible for the immune system. As I mentioned in my last post, taking time to thank God for what He is already doing is an invitation for Him to do more. Whatever you do, never blame a person for their illness. Even if they did something to cause or exacerbate it, blaming them for it will not help them heal. If they’re open to it, it might be good to suggest a few things that could help in their situation, but leave their past mistakes well enough alone. They’re already suffering, and there’s no need to add to it. You are there to bring hope to the situation, and to let Jesus’s healing light shine through you. You are not the physician, but the tool in the Great Physician’s hand. There is no greater honor.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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