Thinking About Healing

If God is “with us” at all times, constantly leading and persuading us in the right direction, we learn to trust and listen to God’s still small voice. In the same way, when we trust God and know God desires the very best for us, we will want to follow these leadings. From past experiences, we have learned that going our own way often leads to bad decisions and unhappiness.

God’s ways more often lead to freedom

We know God is good. As we move beyond a concept of a God with divine manipulative power, the exercise of our faith will find ways to understand that divine power is not coercive. God attempts to influence us in ways that will help us make good decisions for ourselves and help others to listen for God’s still small voice from within themselves as well. We will develop a sense of God’s “persuasive” Spirit that we can recognize. Many voices call to us. Not all of them are God’s voice. We may find a shift away from a belief in a manipulative divine power that directs our every action, difficult at first because it is the view we have had of God for so many centuries.

But it becomes easier if we see God as less the focus of power and more the distributor of power. Such an understanding also helps us when things go awry in our lives. We no longer blame God for the bad things that happen to us. We become aware that God’s Holy Spirit is right there with us as we go through our battles..whatever those battles may be….encouraging us and helping us to heal. We realize that God’s Spirit will never forsake us. And that can bring us great comfort.

This way of envisioning the divine suggests the act of swimming in a deep, slow moving river. The water supports us, though that support requires our cooperation. We are free to rebel, to resist the current by seeking to go our own way. Rebellion requires extra effort, but it is possible. Or we can cooperate with the current and be supported as we attempt to move in positive directions.

The divine has power. But that power is expressed in a way quite different from the way the power of God is traditionally understood. If I am ill, for example, God does not have to be persuaded by the prayers of my friends to assist me to regain health. The Spirit, is already with me, encouraging me, enabling the forces of healing. The prayers of my friends may in some way focus this power, but those prayers are not required to summon the Spirit from inactivity. Without the healing strength that the divine provides, my chances of surviving illness are slim. With that power at work, my chances of recovery increase significantly. But in neither case is my recovery guaranteed.

The Spirit is strong but not omnipotent. The divine enlivens my body’s ability to heal but the strength of the illness can sometimes be so great that not even a spirit empowered body can cope. The Spirit coaxes and persuades toward health but yet it never coerces or overpowers.

That's my understanding at this time.