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The Divine Physician

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 59.

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The Divine Physician

By F. M. W.

How comforting is the assurance that God knows all and understands all! He knows the end from the beginning, the outcome of every plan and purpose. No sudden or unexpected turn of affairs can surprise him. To man it may appear many times that God’s purposes have been thwarted, but with infinite patience the eternal Father calmly abides the outcome. And not only does the heavenly Father know the great problems, but he takes account of little details in the experience of every one of his children. He looks down upon this world, not as made up of one great mass of human beings, but he takes account of each individual composing the great multitude. He knows the experience of every man, woman, and child. He knows the measure of the strength which each possesses, the trials and handicaps, the weaknesses, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Declares the psalmist:—
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Ps. 103: 13, 14.
In this scripture God couples his knowledge of the struggles of his children with his knowledge of their physical weakness. This same idea is expressed in verses 3-5, which declare that it is God “who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” The Scriptures of truth recognize God as the Saviour, both of the soul and of the body, and he desires that his children shall possess health of both. The apostle John writes, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
It is the privilege of the children of God to go to our divine Lord for healing both of body and of soul. James 5: 14, 15. In the healing of both body and soul there is the exercise of the same creative power. Indeed, in some of the miracles performed by Christ, the same word that carried comfort to the soul in the assurance of sins forgiven carried healing to the body of the sufferer. Mark 2: 1-12. The sinner who is converted from his evil ways is born again. John 3: 2. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5: 17); a new life enters his soul (Gal. 2: 20); he is created unto good works (Eph. 2: 10). His purposes, his motives, his desires, his ambitions, his plans, are all changed. Only the power which created the worlds in the beginning could work such a change in his experience. That same miracle-working power which works the healing of the soul brought Lazarus from the tomb (John 11: 43), and raised to life the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7: 14, 15). It brought restoration to the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5: 41), and transformed the poor leper from a decaying body of death to one of strength and physical power (Mark 1: 41, 42). It is the privilege of the child of God to claim today by faith this transforming, life-giving power for both soul and body.
“God is just as willing to restore the sick to health now as when the Holy Spirit spoke these words through the psalmist. And Christ is the same compassionate physician now that he was during his earthly ministry. In him there is healing balm for every disease, restoring power for every infirmity. His disciples in this time are to pray for the sick as verily as the disciples of old prayed. And recoveries will follow; for ‘the prayer of faith shall save the sick.’ We have the Holy Spirit’s power, the calm assurance of faith, that can claim God’s promises. The Lord’s promise, ‘They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover,’ is just as trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles. It presents the privilege of God’s children, and our faith should lay hold of all that it embraces. Christ’s servants are the channel of his working, and through them he desires to exercise his healing power. It is our work to present the sick and suffering to God in the arms of our faith. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer.”—Mrs. E. G. White, in “Ministry of Healing,” p. 226.
One can expect healing of the soul only as he complies with the conditions laid down in the Word of God. He must confess his sins and make right every wrong. This prepares the way for the exercise of the power of God in the healing of the body.
“If any who are seeking health have been guilty of evil-speaking, if they have sowed discord in the home, the neighborhood, or the church, and have stirred up alienation and dissension, if by any wrong practice they have led others into sin, these things should be confessed before God and before those who have been offended. ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ When wrongs have been righted, we may present the needs of the sick to the Lord in calm faith, as his Spirit may indicate.”—Id., p. 229.
It should be borne in mind, however, that in prayer for the sick “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” We should pray in submission to the divine will. God, who knows the end from the beginning, knows if those for whom prayer is being offered would be able to endure the trials of the last day, or if it would be safer for him to hide them in the tomb. We may pray as did the Lord Jesus in the hour of his terrible anguish, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;” but let us also show the same spirit of submission which he manifested when he concluded his earnest request, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matt. 26: 39.
The Lord works in direct and in indirect ways in the healing of his children. Sometimes he is pleased to respond at once to their cry. He sends forth his word, and heals them. (See Ps. 107: 20.) He sees that it will be for his glory to give immediate restoration. This is illustrated by many incidents in the divine record. Sometimes he works through human agencies. Hezekiah was restored through the application of a plaster of figs. 2 Kings 20: 7. Christ made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind man, and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam. John 9: 6, 7.
These various methods through which God has wrought teach us that the Great Physician is not confined to any one way of working. He chooses his own way. He responds to the simple, trusting faith of his afflicted children. Oftentimes he delights to work where human means has failed, after the poor sufferer has found the wisdom of man of no avail. He healed the poor woman with an issue of blood after she had spent all her living upon physicians. Mark 5: 25-34. We doubt not but that scores of those who came to the Saviour for aid were men and women who had suffered for many years and had used many remedial agencies, but without finding relief.
But it is not for us to despise the use of means, nor is it a lack of faith on our part when we make use of the light which God has given us in the treatment of disease in connection with prayers for healing. Indeed, as we pray, it is the proper exercise of faith to make use of the natural agencies which God has placed within our hands. We believe that in the closing days of this message we shall see the mighty manifestation of God’s healing power among his people, but let us realize this, that the day of consecration must precede the day of power. We shall witness the mighty revelation of God in the church and in our own personal experience in the proportion that we rid ourselves of sin and consecrate without reserve soul, body, and spirit upon the altar of his service.
F. M. W.