God, Healing, and Medical Insurance

God, Healing, and Medical Insurance

There is a story in the Bible about a lady who was sick for 12 years and spent all she had on doctors.  (Mark 5:24-24)  Unfortunately, they were not able to help her.  At this time, she heard about Jesus and came to Him and was healed.  This story raises some interesting questions for us.

The first question is whether this woman is being held up as an example for us.  We are commonly told that God expects us to do everything we can when we have a problem.  Or, in other words, we shouldn’t expect God to help us in something if we haven’t at least tried our best first.  That would be like thinking that God is our servant rather that we being His servants.  So we are told: work as if everything depends on us; pray as if everything depends on God.

So this woman took our advice.  She spent everything she had trying to get well.  But we still have to ask if she is being held up for us as an example.  Does God expect us to spend all we have on medical care before we can expect Him to come to our aid and heal us? 

Of course, who of us can ever say that we have done all that we could?  We always feel like we could have done more.  Maybe if we had started earlier.  Gone to more doctors.  Thank God for medical insurance!  But wait. 

Forty million people in the United States don’t have medical insurance.  They could literally spend all they have on medical care, just like the woman in the Bible.  In fact, medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy in our country.  But can we ever do enough, or all that we can?

We are told that God uses doctors.  And I would never want to disparage all the good that they do.  The question is whether God expects us to use them as our primary or main source of healing.  That certainly would not be the impression we get from the Bible.  If God’s program has changed, He doesn’t appear to have told anyone about it. 

But let me say some things in support of the medical community.  They have certainly come a long way since Bible times, and they certainly do a lot of good in the world.  I wrote a book on healing, and I would be the first to admit that healing is not a simple subject that anyone can fully grasp with little effort.  Many times it may seem easier to just take a pill or have doctors put something back together that has been broken. 

But more often than not it seems that their care is that of managing symptoms rather than ridding a person of the problem.  And far too often, when they have pronounced their verdict, those of us who profess to know God and Jesus and believe in the Bible have accepted their opinion and given up all hope for a cure.  In some cases this is followed by a premature death, and in others the person resigns themselves to a lifetime of medicine and discomfort from an ongoing condition.  Is this what God wants for us? 

I don’t think I could adequately answer that question in this column.  It would take a book to answer all of the questions, and I have already done that.  My hope here is to encourage you to at least ask the questions.