Sovereign Healing.

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Matthew 9. Mark 2. Luke 5.

"Healthy."

Throughout history, people have sought how to be ultimately healthy. How to beat the system of getting hurt and dying that began with Adam and Eve's eviction from the Garden of Eden. Countless methods of cures and medicines and practices have been performed on, injected into, willing taken by the human body to make it physically better.

The human body is this perfectly balanced, ingenuously created organism that can do so much. We as humans can run, jump, pick stuff up in our hands (and feet if you want to get creative), speak, think, process sights, smells, tastes, sounds, touch......it's amazing. Utterly amazing. Genesis 1:27 says that "God created man in His own image." The creation story found in Genesis (and really, the entire Bible) tells us that we are the crown of God's creation. We are made in His image.

This "very good" creation (Gen. 1:31), however, developed a serious flaw when we--yes, we; each of us has made this choice of our own freewill--decided to walk away from our perfect Creator. Part of the consequences exist physically. Part of the consequences exist spiritually. Sickness and hurt just scratch the surface of it. Separation from the eternal God is something much, much more serious.

However, even though we deserve all of the wrath of God described in the Minor Prophets, God planned even before the creation of the world to save His creation through the sacrifice of His Son. Such love, no one can even begin to fathom it (Ephesians 3:14-21). The acceptance of this ultimate sacrifice returns us to fulfillment in our God. This sacrifice makes absolutely no sense from a logical perspective. Why sacrifice the one man in all of history who has actually earned his place by God's side? God's unrelenting love makes no sense to humanity. A God who calls His people back again and again and again and again and again all through history? The only absolutely perfect person in the history of the whole planet  willingly gave Himself for this flawed people (yes, that means you and me). And this sacrifice lasts FOREVER. Meaning it will never, ever, go away. Period.

Back to the plans of God. I can't say that I understand them. Ephesians three says that no one can grasp it, even in their wildest imaginations. So.

My senior year of high school, I went through surgeries to give me teeth. Why did God choose to make me without about 18 of my teeth? I'm still figuring that out day by day. He has provided healing, a way (though imperfect) to bypass this physical "thorn" that affected 15 years of my life. Every day, I am reminded of His grace. I could be bitter about what could be seen as a shortcoming in my design, but I know that He is the perfect Creator, and He takes delight in me. Every day, He reminds me that He does have a plan, even though my tiny human mind cannot begin to understand it.

Fast forward to today, 3 years later.

My practically-little brother, newest member of my second family, hurt his knee tonight as he began his senior year season of football. T's plan? To play college ball. God's plan?....

My actual little sister--a polevaulter--three days before a track meet to qualify for state, ran into her pole, cut open her chin, got stitches, and suffered a concussion. I watched helplessly as she encountered a mental block that, of course, results from running into a stationary pole. Her plan? To defend her state title. God's plan?....

My best friend. A struggle of mine for the past semester. Christian Studies major. Active in BSU. Committed to making disciples of all nations. On fire for Christ. This semester I will attend MC without my best friend because she has battled sickness and doctors' visits since January. With her, I have to keep reminding myself over and over and over again that God is in control. God is in control. God is in control. I have cried out so many times, like Moses in Numbers 12:13, "O God, please heal her!" KRose's plan? To get a degree from MC and go out onto the mission field. God's plan?....

In all three of these instances, the people did not plan on injury or sickness. I have had to accept over and over again that I cannot do anything. I cannot heal on my own power. I cannot magically snap my fingers and it all be better. I do not understand why God is doing what He's doing. I do know, however, that He is sovereign. I know Who is in control.

"Sovereignty." Supreme power or authority.

God's grace and love works exactly like this. Just as I have to give up control on the healing of my body or the physical healing of the people I care about most, I have to give up control of the healing of my soul. No matter how much you or I work, we cannot work our way to God. Nothing we do can ever add up to enough to save ourselves. Part of the beauty of God's loving grace is realizing this crucial fact. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mat. 5). A podcast done by Pinelake Church describes this condition as admitting to God that we do not have what it takes to pay for our transgressions, sins, wrongdoings. Confessing that I cannot, with all my good works (community service, offerings, church attendance, Christian studies degree, participation in "good" things, avoidance of "bad" things) possibly meet His expectations. He commands us to "be perfect, just as your heavenly Father (God) is perfect" (Mat. 5:48). I can never be perfect. I will always do wrong things. I will always think wrong thoughts, act wrongly to others, you name it. I will always fall short of His expectations if I depend on my own strength. Thankfully, blessedly, I don't have to worry about meeting His standard on my own. Someone else has it covered for me.

With the sacrifice of Jesus Christ came something incredible. He has made it possible for me to come to know God without having to cleanse myself, without having to be that perfect person that we all portray ourselves to be. God sees straight through the mask that I wear. He knows my heart, my desires, my most secret being. He knows that I am a sinner. He knows that I deserve all of His wrath.

Christ took on the righteous wrath of God, though. Jesus Christ--the utterly perfect Son of God--died in my place and received every ounce of punishment that I deserved. Because of Him, I am covered in grace. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." "By His wounds, we are healed" (Isa. 53, 1 Peter 2). I am reborn in Him; He has given me His Spirit; and I am a daughter of God, the ultimate Healer.

The amazing thing is, no one saw God's exact plan of how Christ could save the world before He actually did it through Jesus. Even those He revealed glimpses to--Abraham, David, Isaiah, Hosea, Mary--did not know exactly how Hist story would play out until it happened. And it is more beautiful than any story a human being could have written.

During Jesus' time here on Earth, He constantly healed those around him. Simon Peter's mother-in-law, the man with leprosy, the centurion's servant, the demon-possessed, the blind, the lame, the mute, those that society would not go near for fear of being unclean. He raised the dead. His healing is summed up in his statement to who is referred to as the "bleeding woman" in Mark 5: "...your faith has healed you." Yes, Jesus healed all of these people physically. But that is not his ultimate goal. They had encounters with Him that changed their lives. They went out and proclaimed Him as the Son of God. And this man that is also God (John 1) lives within me. He lives within those who struggle today. Why do "innocent" people suffer, you may ask? Well, the first argument is that there are none who are truly innocent. There is a remedy for that, a forgiveness that comes from the Creator Himself. The second argument is that without suffering, we would not need God. We would be able to make it through this world on our own, without knowing or caring about the comfort that can only come from God. I choose to grasp onto this, not as a crutch, but as a life-sustaining abundance of love from the One Who directs my path.

Perfect physical healing may never come. But in Christ, I am guaranteed the healing that matters. My broken soul is now whole because Someone else lives there.

I serve a sovereign Healer. The thing is, I'm not sovereign. Sometimes (well, most of the time), I can't see or fathom what He's doing in my life, in the lives of my dearest friends. But I have to trust that He's at work, creating something beyond my best imagination. He is the ultimate Healer. The ultimate Comforter.

Kari Jobe's song "Healer" seems appropriate here. I'm praying that each of you come to know the healing that has encompassed me. All you have to do, like the bleeding woman in Mark 5, is reach out to touch Him.

You hold my very moment

You calm my raging seas

You walk with me through fire

And heal all my disease.

I trust in You

I trust in You.

I believe that You're my Healer.

I believe You are all I need.

I believe.

I believe You're my portion

I believe You're more than enough for me.

Jesus, You're all I need.