Divine healing and medicine: is there a conflict?

By: Shaila Touchton | April 12, 2017 Divine healing and emergency medicine may at first seem like strange partners. Divine healing is a matter of faith. Medicine is mostly a matter of science. Our culture has at times, identified these two as being in conflict with one another. But the truth is; divine healing is an excellent compliment to the practice of medicine. There are many conditions for which medicine has little to offer. The power of divine healing has virtually no limitations. While patients have a high degree of trust in the medical community, most patients also believe in a higher power. In the minds of our patients, there is no conflict between healing prayer and medicine. Whenever God was permitting a curse, because people were permitting it through disobedience, the Hebrew record implied that God was causing it when He was not. Whenever a causative verb is used as a substitute for a permissive verb, it can make God appear to be a God of wrath when He is not. He is love. (1 John 4:8) This is what is actually occurring in the above verse where it states, "I will put none of these diseases upon you." It actually should read, "I will not permit any of these diseases to come upon you." God does not cause sickness or disease to come upon anyone. Sickness and disease comes to steal one's health, to kill and to destroy. Jesus said that is the job of Satan, the thief, not God. "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) "Touching the Almighty; we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict." (Job 37:23) God does not steal, kill or destroy human health. God does not afflict with sickness and disease. However, God does permit disease when people permit disease through lack of knowledge of His Word, lack of knowledge of His will for them to be well or through sin and disobedience on their part. Sickness can occur when people neglect to take proper care of themselves. Sickness can also occur as an outright Satanic attack against God's obedient children. The Bible reveals that sickness is not caused by God. He simply permits it when man permits it in one way or another. Exodus 15:26 above also says, "...for I am the Lord that healeth thee." The word "healeth" is actually "rapha." Rapha means "medicine, stitch up, cure, healer and physician." This is a reference to a medical doctor and it is how God refers to Himself. It is important to keep in mind as you continue to read that God not only refers to Himself as a medical doctor, but He also refers to Himself alone as the Great Physician or Healer. He alone has the power to heal. Doctors and nurses do not possess the ability to heal, they can simply assist God and assist nature. The humble ones will admit this fact. Doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners can promote health and disease prevention. Together they can diagnose diseases and their symptoms, treat everything from mild ailments to serious conditions, analyze laboratory reports and x-rays, prescribe medications, perform surgeries, suturing, set broken bones and perform many other highly skilled duties - but only Almighty God, the Great Physician, possesses the power to heal. All healing comes from God alone. Therefore, all healing is Divine healing. Neither can drugs, medicine, folk or homeopathic remedies heal, but they can assist nature, and we will see from the Bible that all of these forms of medicine are good, not bad, when used wisely. Again, if you find yourself in need of a doctor, you should do your best to find one that believes in Jesus Christ and the Word of God. If such a doctor is not available, simply ask the Holy Spirit to lead you by the "red-light" or "green-light" within as to which doctor you should choose. He will show you which is the best for you at the present time. If you have unrest about going to a certain doctor, do not go to that doctor. Go to the one you have peace about. This is the primary way God guides when there is no Scripture to tell the Believer what to do. Doctors, nurses, medicine and medical technology are good. The wisdom for the help they offer comes from God. The natural help they offer, combined with the supernatural help that comes from knowledge of God's Word, trusting the Holy Spirit and faith-filled prayer, creates an explosive force through which God can heal. "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him." (2 Chronicles 16:12-14) Here we have a King of Israel who became ill, did not bother to first seek Jehovah-Rapha as his Healer and went directly to the physicians. That is as dangerous as seeking God alone and not going to the doctor when one has no faith for healing. Seeking the physician's care only and not even bothering to consult with Jehovah-Rapha actually cost King Asa his very life. Christians often make this mistake. They do not bother to take even a skinny minute to pray when sickness symptoms appear. They run immediately to the medicine cabinet or to the doctor, not even bothering to consult Jehovah-Rapha. King Asa found out quickly this is the wrong way to go. Now, it is perfectly fine to go to the doctor if one does not have faith for healing. But one should never put the doctor first and Jehovah-Rapha second. Always seek the Lord's wisdom first. Even while under a doctor's care, the wise Christian will continue to consult with Jehovah-Rapha and to meditate on healing Scriptures, developing faith for and cooperating with their healing. King Asa was trusting only in the arm of the flesh when he went running lickety-split to the doctor and right past Holy God. This cost King Asa his life and it could cost you yours. Slow down. Take the time to ask God for wisdom before you do anything else. "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7) "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering ..." (James 1:5-6 To trust in the flesh is death. To trust in the Lord is life. (Jeremiah 17:5-8) Category: Healing and Deliverance Tags: Divine healing and medicine is there a conflict