A Theology of Disease, Petitionary Prayer, and Healing

This question was recently asked as a result of the story of my faith struggle in 2015 regarding the death of my friend Pat after my praying for his healing: “if the Dan MacIntosh of 2015 met the Dan MacIntosh of 2022 for coffee how would DM 22 advise DM 15 about heartfelt prayer for the sick?”

This has caused me to think about my current theology of disease, petitionary prayer, and healing. I will review these first and then try to more specifically answer the question that was posed.

A Theology of Disease

Firstly, disease was not in God’s original plan but came about as a result of the Fall, when humans, not satisfied with a subservient, loving and relational role with their creator, usurped and rejected his authority, and attempted to “seize the crown.” At that point, disease, decay, and death entered the world.

There are many etiologies for disease in a biological sense, but in a theological sense, they fall into several categories. Most diseases are simply a result of random bad luck, contributed to by bad or aging genes, natural disasters, or infectious agents. There are also diseases the acquisition of which are contributed to by bad choices or self-imposed evil acts such as smoking or speeding. There are others that are inflicted by selfishness or the evil of another. Examples would be sexually transmitted diseases or violent acts causing injury.

And then, there are what I would characterize as rare situations where diseases are inflicted on people by Satan. Certainly, the biblical story of Job would be evidence of this. Also, in the gospel narratives there was an understanding of demonic possession as the source of various diseases such as seizures. Whether this was the case or a misinterpretation of the evidence at hand is unclear. Finally, there are situations where God inflicts diseases on people which also would seem to be a rare event. The plagues in Egypt, the untimely deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) and the death of Herod (preceded by being eaten by worms) for not giving glory to God (Acts 12:23) are all examples of this divine infliction of disease in judgment on people.

While God’s Plan A was not for disease and death to exist, he is sovereign, and all that occurs has been allowed by him. Some speak of these occurrences as falling under the category of the permissive will of God. In other words, while disease is not in his perfect will, and while he could prevent or heal all diseases, for the most part it would appear that he allows the consequences of the Fall to have their way.

A theology of Petitionary Prayer

God’s heart is for us to be in relationship with him. This relationship involves communication. While he knows everything (as the psalmist puts it “oh Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue O Lord, you know it completely. Psalm 139:1-4), he desires that we give him access to our lives, to share what concerns us, to bring to him what our desires are.

The metaphor that Scripture gives us for God is that of a father, who gives good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:7-11) and so, we are encouraged to bring our request before him with childlike simplicity and faith. Not only that, but there is encouragement in Scripture to be persistent in our prayers and not give up (Luke 18:1-8; Luke 11:5-8).

There is ample evidence in Scripture that prayer moves God and even causes him to change his mind. There is also, however, evidence of God not complying with heartfelt persistent prayer. An example of this is God’s failure to remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), implying that sometimes the requests we bring to God in prayer are not in our best interest or in his plan.

And so, our relationship with God is something like any relationship. Communication occurs, feelings and wants are expressed, and sometimes petitions are granted.

A Theology of Healing

God can miraculously heal. There is plenty of evidence of this in the pages of Scripture and, in human post biblical reported experience. There is, however, a difference between what God can do and what he typically does do. I’m not sure how often God miraculously heals today. What I do believe is that some people attribute too many occurrences to God’s healing hand and others attribute too few.

I also know that God has a different perspective on time. Henry Nouwen talks about the difference between the Greek words for time Kairos and Chronos, Chronos being more related to chronological time (minutes, hours, days, years) and Kairos being related to moments or “the fullness of time.” 2 Peter 3:8 suggests that God’s clock is unlike ours. “… With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” I believe that God sees us as eternal beings and is much less concerned with our “three score and 10”or with the milestone/gravestone of death than we are, and also much less invested in the tragedy of a life “taken too soon.” In the perspective of eternity, whether we live on earth 90 years or 90 days must seem relatively the same.

Having said that, however, I believe that God suffers when we suffer. He is a suffering God. I think of the scene with Jesus crying outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus. In Romans 8:23, 26-27 we learn that the Holy Spirit is groaning within us. In fact, in that chapter, there is a whole lot of groaning going on. Not only is the Holy Spirit groaning, but we are also groaning and all of creation is groaning. There is a sense that, in our fallen world, something is not right, and God groans with us and with all of creation. It is interesting to me that the Holy Spirit intercedes within us according to the will of God, with “sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Isn’t it wonderful that God recognizes that something is not right and joins us in our groaning about it? In fact, I would suggest that there is a wonderful dance going on between the Holy Spirit and our spirits, offering, encouraging, and stimulating petitionary prayer to the God who will ultimately makes all things new.

Miraculous healings were prevalent during the ministry of Jesus and were used to herald the coming of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:18-19). Despite this, as far as I know, all those that were healed by Jesus ultimately suffered the same fate of death.

Faith (our own or that of others) seems to be an important ingredient for, but not a guarantee of, healing. It seems that only a “pinch” of faith is required to bring about big miraculous events; mustard seed faith can move mountains into the sea (Matthew 8:26). There were situations in which, however, Jesus with one breath chastised his disciples for being “of little faith” and, with the next breath, spoke a word to miraculously calm the wind and waves. Healing sometimes, I suppose, can take place despite our little or absent faith. In other words, God doesn’t need us or our faith to facilitate healing.

On the other hand, great faith is no guarantee that healing will occur. There are numerous examples throughout history of this phenomenon including that recorded in Scripture regarding Paul’s thorn in the flesh mentioned above. Sometimes God has a grander outcome in mind rather than healing. Paul’s increased reliance on the sufficiency of God’s grace would be an example of this. On one occasion Jesus stated that a man was “born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in him.”

Some other thoughts regarding healing: 1 Corinthians 12:9 states that the Holy Spirit gives gifts of healing to some but not all. It would appear that some of us might be “better at it” than others because of a grace bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit and not necessarily just because we have “more faith.”

Also, I do wonder about the definition of a miraculous healing. To my mind as a physician, even “natural” healing is a miracle supervised by a God-initiated-and-ordained miraculous biological mechanism involving the immune system, inflammation, tissue repair, etc. A bone mending together in 6-8 weeks after being broken in two is indeed “miraculous.”

With regard to praying for healing, Jesus gives a helpful formula in his garden of Gethsemane prayer: “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

DM 22 speaking to DM 15

With this probably excessive background in place, I will now attempt to answer the question.

When Pat died, it was in the context of me dabbling in faith. Marguerite and I were involved in a Bible study where we were listening to the Bethel church videos on supernatural ministry which involved stepping out in faith in the areas of words of knowledge, prophecy, and healing. There were some results occurring that, to my mind, suggested the miraculous.

I had had a small basal cell cancer on my forehead for about six months. These are slow-growing and not particularly dangerous and it was on my “to do list” to see my physician about getting it excised. In the context of my newfound adventures in faith for miraculous healing, on a whim, I laid a hand on my forehead and prayed for it to be healed. I didn’t think too much of it until a few days later when I looked in the mirror and it was gone. This boosted my faith.

About that time, I was reading in the Gospels about the mustard seed and the mountain. It occurred to me that the basal cell cancer was the mustard seed and perhaps Pat’s stage IV esophageal cancer was the mountain that was to be cast into the sea. I began to pray fervently and persistently in faith for his healing. While I didn’t feel that I had a “word” that he would be healed, I felt that, perhaps for the first time in my life, I would not be taken by surprise if a miraculous healing took place.

He ended up dying and this launched me into a two-year hissy fit of disappointment, anger and bitterness at God, feeling like he was a father that, in a sense, should have encouraged and nourished my fledgling faith by granting my wish. My prevailing thought was: “Really? Couldn’t you have given me a freebie, a Mulligan, in this one situation?” It really left me wondering about the whole enterprise of reaching out to God in prayer with my heartfelt concerns.

And so, what would I say to that Dan of old?

What I am coming to realize is that while my faith for healing may have diminished, my trust in God has increased. I am much more convinced that God is love and all his actions are always and only loving. I am also more convinced that God’s ways are not my ways. He is mysterious. I do not always understand the “why” of how he acts or doesn’t act. I am much more at peace about this situation. I am much more inclined to join Jesus in praying “not my will but yours be done” while at the same time letting God know what my will is. A useful prayer that I have learned is praying for a blessing on the individual (leaving God to define what that blessing is).

I am much more inclined to listen for the groaning of the Spirit within and enter into the prayer of faith when I sense that that is the direction the Spirit is leaning and leading. I am not very good at discerning this movement but, I believe, am improving in listening to the groaning - both mine and that of the Spirit. I am becoming much less focused on the importance of this life and gaining more of an eternal perspective - more of Kairos versus Chronos view. I am also becoming much more aware that, while God rarely has a hand in initiating bad situations, he can bring good from bad. I am so thankful, in retrospect, for Pat’s death; thankful for him that he is in the presence of Jesus, and thankful for myself that this event brought about a dark night that set me on a path towards the light.

I want to highlight particularly the movement in my life from faith in faith, to trust in God. I am in a community of believers who are all about declarative prayers. If we say it loud enough and assert it long enough and have enough faith, then, it would seem, that God is obligated to do what we say. This kind of faith is more like a formula or a magic trick and much less relational than that of growing in trust. Maybe though, it isn’t an either-or situation. Perhaps I can grow in that kind of faith as well as my newfound growing level of trust. Maybe there is room for more bold faith that is born out of a deep listening to the groans of the Holy Spirit and what she intends to do in a given situation. However, stepping out in that kind of faith seems scary to me. I’m not yet confident at hearing the groans and hearing the will of God. I am a bit gun shy about stepping out in faith. I am open to learning to do this. I’m open to being graced with that kind of faith which is perhaps the gift of healing. I am concerned, however, that taking these steps and falling down again could be very destructive to my Christian walk and relationship with God. I am more comfortable with my “prayer of blessing” and leaving it to the God who always acts in love. Would I and do I continue to pray for miraculous healing? For sure, but just not with much faith or expectation.

Of course, my 2015 self would not have likely responded in a kind receptive way to the above wisdom. I think the best thing that I could do in having a coffee with my 2015 self would be to empathically listen like my friend Chris Hall and others did for me. There’s something about the work of the Spirit in a person’s life that simply takes time and experience. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could simply download our own wisdom to others so that they wouldn’t have to walk the dark night?