Pneumonia & Common-Grace

[Jonathan Poland]

Hey Everybody,

As some of you already know, I just recently recovered from a mild bout with pneumonia. Thank you, those of you who knew about it, for your prayers. Thanks to those prayers, and to the power of God, I am recovered and well!

It was not a spectacular miracle, it did not happen instantly with hands laid-on me, or anything of that sort (wonderful as that is); it was gradual (over several days), and with the aid of prescription and over-the-counter medications. I suppose it was, as any outward observer might conclude, a very "normal" recovery process. Nothing unusual, special, or (least-of-all) supernatural about it!

Nevertheless, I found myself to be overcome with gratitude to God for healing me! Yes! God healed me! I did not "recover;" I was healed! And, I did not heal myself! Neither was it the doctor! Nor was it the medication! It was not owing to any human effort or natural chemical reaction! It was only God!

I can not help but think about how many people have taken all the medication, gone to the best doctors, made every possible effort to exercise, think right, eat right, and have nevertheless succumbed to cancer, leukemia, Alzheimers, MS, heart-disease, and any number of other mysterious diseases that kill us in ways we cannot understand. Not too long ago in our history, my pneumonia would have been one of those mysterious life-threatening diseases.

In what can we trust besides the grace of God? I think about the fact that, according to scientists in the medical field, we could be looking forward to a post-antibiotic era of killer bacteria, which will mutate and adapt to all known medicines so that nothing will stop them! If no one will be able to trust in medicines then, why should we now (Jer 30:13-15)? Where will we turn? To DNA manipulation? And what side-effects do you suppose we might discover with that process? We haven't even scarcely begun to understand the complexities of how our own DNA really works!

No! We must fall upon God's grace! We must come to realize that all healing is by the grace and the power of God, not only when it is sudden and special, but also when it is gradual and common! Every time a baby recovers from a fever, that recovery is a miracle of God's mercy--whether medicines were involved or not! After all, God does not have to let the medicines work, does he? That he does is a gift of his grace which we do not deserve and to which we cannot lay claim!

We take for granted the fact that we "get better" when we are sick. After we have gotten sick a few dozen times and then "gotten better" we tend to expect it to always happen that way--we tend to even think that we deserve to get better. How often do we consider the fact that it is God who is healing us? How often do we praise him for this gracious work of his hands, which he freely bestows upon men without distinction?

I love the Healing movement. I believe in Divine Healing! I even believe that we ought to believe God for miracles of healing, and take him at his promises in the word, which is pleasing to him.

But I often get the impression that in our zeal to see spectacular healing we overlook the generally gracious and even miraculous nature of healing itself. All healing is the work of God! Are our hearts filled to overflowing with gratitude for the fact that God heals us, not just from time to time, but all the time and all around us? What about our sustained health we are enjoying daily (those of us who are healthy)? Are we thankful for that? Do we recognize that is also a gift from God? How much does the Father lavish his goodness upon us ungrateful people!

All healing is miraculous, even if it is common. All healing is merciful, even if it is normal.

Am I saying that we should not expect sudden, spectacular miracles of healing? No; I am not saying that. Common healing, albeit miraculous and gracious, is nonetheless "common." It is the sun which God makes to shine upon the evil and the good, and the rain which God sends upon the just and the unjust (Mat 5:45). We are God's covenant people, and thus we have promises from God that we can believe which he has not given to everyone. We are partakers of his "special grace," and we should expect to benefit from this lest we be found in unbelief.

But look at the parallel passage in Luke to the one I just quoted above from Matthew,

Luke 6:35 (emphasis mine),
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."

Look at how God gives this promise ("ye shall be the children of the Highest"), not to everyone, but only to those who "love their enemies." It is a special promise to a special people, who behave in a special way (namely, love & obedience). Why shall they be called his children? Because they are like him (Eph 4:32-5:1, Jn 8:38). In what way are they like him? They are like him because they are "kind to the unthankful and to the evil." The implication is that they are not the unthankful and the evil. They have been separated from the unthankful and evil ones in order that they might show kindness to them. If then they are not unthankful, then what are they instead? They are thankful.

But what are they thankful for? Is it only for God's special grace that he gives to his peculiar people? That would not be consistent with the context. What are "the unthankful and the evil" unthankful for? Is it only for special grace? They have not received special grace! The majority of them know nothing about it! They have only known common grace, and that is precisely what they constantly refuse to be thankful for! So that must be the grace that "the children of the highest" are thankful for!

What is my point? It is this: We can never be the recipients of God's special grace unless we are not unthankful for his common grace!
God's covenant people are filled with gratitude, not only for his special grace but for his common grace as well! They do not praise him for one and completely overlook the other. They do not rejoice when God re-grows a mans severed limb, but cry of boredom when they hear that someone's cancer has gone into recession, or that someone is slowly recovering from a cough. They love God for his common grace, and, in fact, they are the only ones who can do so, for, as we have seen, those who do not receive special grace from God never thank him at all!

Do not grumble at God because he has not healed you yet, and when you recover do not give the credit to your immune system, to medicines, to physicians, or to your own efforts! Thank God from the bottom of your heart, for he alone is the one who has healed you, and he alone deserves the glory!

Actually, as we have seen above, the fact that you are able to be thankful for your "common" healing is evidence of God's "special" grace in your heart--the same "special" grace that he often uses to instantly and spectacularly heal persons' bodies! You could say, It is proof that he may specially heal you! Or, at least it is most definite proof that God is for you, not against you, that you are his, and that he will certainly work all things (including your illness) together for your good (Rom 8:28). If it is good for you, he will heal you. Nevertheless, I do suspect that it would be far easier for us to believe God for miracles of healing if we were more in awe of all the "common healings" that he is constantly performing all around us.

So, to conclude, believe God for his special grace, but in doing so do not forget to thank him for his common grace. If you forget the latter you cannot expect to receive the first, but those who sincerely thank him for the latter have received the first already.

Grateful for his grace to you and I,

Jonathan

[Urgessa Gemeda]

That is an excellent point Jonathan, and I'm grateful that you were able to be grateful in your sickness. God is definitely good. It's very difficult when it comes to the healing movement, because there is such a great emphasis on God wants to heal you, and you're the only one in the way. Just get out of the way and be a good christian and God will heal you. Tell that to Job. Tell that to Piper. I'm not saying that they are perfect but fruit is evident where fruit is evident. In certain circles, if you start to become sick, it's almost a stamp that you must've done something wrong. Or didn't pray enough, or qoute enough scripture. What people don't get is that sickness is the least of sinners worries. It's offending the One True God. OUch I just stubbed my toe. Better go pray in tongues for a couple of hours so it won't happen again. Was not Paul plagued with trials and tribulations and sicknesses and demons for the glory of God's sake. Praise God for is infinite mercy and goodness, and causing all things to work to the good to them who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

[Brian Lucero]

That was one of the topics that our Tuesday Bible study was looking at. God's afflictions (e.g. Psalm 119:71; 2Cor. 12:10; Heb.12:5-7), calamities, hardships, sicknesses, persecutions, etc. may have various purposes such as bringing us back to a Godward lifestyle, discipline, sanctification, helping us see God as the sovereign one, refocusing our lives, teaching us. We should also remember that God desires us to pray for protection, a way through, grace for the struggle, and healing.

[Jonathan Poland]

Thank for your comments, guys.
:)
I'm happy that this bore-witness with your spirits.