Ps 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who heals all your diseases. That sounds like a pretty and wonderful promise except for that elephant sitting in the healing room. That elephant is called, “Not all diseases get healed.” Does that mean that Scripture is not true? I mean it clearly says that God heals all our diseases. I have heard preachers use this verse and really emphasize the word all. He will really elaborate on this all business and tell us that God heals all, there are no exceptions to all so come forward and get your healing. Except many, if not most, receive no healing at all. I have attended a number of meetings where this verse is thrown out and I have witnessed scores of sincere, Bible believing people whose faith is as strong as any come forward with diseases and leave with no healed.
Of course the preacher is armed with a number of pat answers as to why the healings did not take place, foremost is lack of faith or they were not believers to begin with. I recall as a teenager we had a guest speaking on a youth retreat. The guy was brilliant, funny, and a great speaker. He was a Bible college professor as well as a much sought after speaker. He had a brilliant and fruitful future ahead of him. At the age of thirty he developed cancer and died within a year. People prayed for him, people all over America and even the world prayed for his healing, it never came. It could not be a lack of faith, this guy had enough faith for all of us. Is this proof that Psalms 103:3 is not the inspired Word of God? Does this make God out to be a liar.
Some will say that cancer is not a disease. Really? You going to throw that at me. Read Webster’s definition of disease, it includes illness, sickness or any disorder of the body. Cancer fits that definition if that is the English word we are going to plug in here, I find no way around it, this verse is just not true, God does not heal all our diseases. Some will say that in heaven all our diseases will be healed. That is really stretching out for an answer. I mean you can find an answer to any question if you apply enough creativity and I have heard many creative answers.
I claim no answer to that question, but I will share with you something from the Hebrew. The word for disease in Hebrew is tachaluw which means sickness and disease. However, it is also an idiom for something that is grievous. Perhaps David is saying God heals all that grieves us. This word comes from a Semitic root chala’ which is used for the rust that forms on metal. Something that rust eventually becomes useless. In ancient times rust was viewed as something that eats away at metal, corrupts it and deteriorates it. The eventually took on the meaning of disease because that is what a disease does, it corrupts the body and begins to cause the body to deteriorate.
Chala’ is closely related to the word kalah which means destruction and bride. When a man takes a bride this is destruction that takes place to his will, his life style and his privacy. There are many things that are destroyed when you take a mate, because you are no longer a person to yourself but someone else is sharing your life. This destruction is not so much a physical destruction but a destruction of the self centerness of one’s mind and heart,
Thus, this word chala’ means more than just disease. Disease is not the only possible definition of that word. This word could also mean something that is corrupting and causing a deterioration not only physically, but spiritually as well. Is David just talking about a spiritual corruption and not a physical or does he mean both. I can’t answer that.
My study partner and I were talking about unanswered prayer in our lives. She has something she has been praying for for years and I also had something else that I have been praying for for years. Both things are something special to each of us. For myself God has answered many prayers, in fact sometimes it seems like anything I asked for He would give it to me, except for this one thing. I would beg, plead and bargain with God if He would just answer this one prayer. He has not, He has not even come close. A day does not go by that I do not pray this prayer and still He does not answer that prayer.
As I started to air my frustration over this unanswered prayer I became aware of my voice rising. I hesitated as I did not want to sound unspiritual but my study partner encouraged me to go on and say it. I did, I was angry at God, I questioned my own faith. I wondered what type of God I was serving. I sacrificed so much for Him, the least He could do would be to answer that request. It wasn’t even a selfish request, it was something that would bring glory and honor to God. God has answered so many other prayers that would not come close to bringing Him the glory and honor this request would, yet, nothing, heaven is silent.
After the phone call with my study partner I began to really air it out with God. I was primed and ready now and all that bitterness and anger that I had buried inside of me, hidden away so tightly that not even I knew it was there came flooding out. I wept and shouted my frustration to God. Then I started to threaten Him. I told him I would write no more, no more blog, no more books until He answered that prayer. You can see how far that threat went since I am writing this. Like Jeremiah His Word is burning in my heart so I can’t contain it, Ok, God has me so hyped that I cannot stop writing but I will write, I will tell the world that He is a God who does not keep promises, he deceives, leads you down the primrose covered path with all sorts of promises that He does not intend to fulfill.
I even took the verse for today and held it up to Him. “Lookie here God, see this promise, what about all those believers I have personally known and not known who died from diseases that you did not heal? Huh? How about it God? You want it in Hebrew? I’ll give it to you in Hebrew, see it means that you will heal us of anything that is deteriorating our body.” Wait a minute it does not say body only chala’ a deterioration. I thought of the past few days as my soul was being healed and now as I faced this deeply buried bitterness toward God and I began to realize my soul and spirit were deteriorating.
I wept and said; “Ok God, you promised to heal a deterioration, you didn’t say what particular deterioration but just all the deteriorations and right now the most important thing is my soul it is deteriorating over this bitterness. If you will not answer my prayer at least tell me why.”
A squirrel ran by my bus as I am parked right now waiting for my next pickup. He stopped right in front of my bus, twitched his nose as if to say: “No time to talk, I have to prepare for winter.” He scurried up a tree with a mouthful of nuts and then paused, looked down at me and within my heart I heard him say: “We have to prepare for winter you know.” I have no answer to that elephant in the room, but I did get an answer to my own personal dilemma which is all I needed right now so my soul can continue the healing process.
Do you need an answer, it’s out there, just listen for it, and listen with your heart. God’s creation cannot speak a language so they speak to your heart. We just have to get our mind off ourselves and look around, your answer is out there, I promise.
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