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Divine Healing

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 15, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 30.

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Divine Healing

By D. H. Kress

D. H. KRESS, M. D.
THE Saviour’s manner of healing is designed to teach valuable lessons for all time. He once anointed the eyes of a man who was born blind, and bade him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” The blind man “went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” This man could have been healed without the application of the salve or the water, but Christ evidently made use of these simple agencies of nature, and thus called attention to remedies which are often ignored, and yet within the reach of all. By this act he sanctioned the use of remedial agencies.
Everything that human hands can do in sickness should be done; every agency of value should be employed. It is no denial of faith to make use of these agencies.
When we offer the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we do not sit quietly down in expectancy and fold our hands. It would be presumptuous to do so. The manna fell every morning, but Israel’s host had to gather it daily. “What thou givest them they gather.” This is the divine order. When we are unable to gather, God can supply our needs in some other way. Faith is shown by works. Faith and works make a divine combination.
There is no question but that mental unrest and dissatisfied feelings are responsible for many physical ills, and that these ills cannot be cured by diet or by treatment alone. Obstinate digestive disturbances may be wholly due to a wrong mental state. He who is in constant fear that the food he eats will disagree with him will remain a dyspeptic until the fear is removed.
The poet-banker Rogers, it is said, caught a severe cold by sitting at a window that he supposed was open. It was not open at all. Most of the colds are caught in this way. That which is greatly feared oftentimes comes upon us. Persons who are always afraid of colds are the ones who are constantly complaining of colds. Those who have no such fears but recognize air as a blessing, seldom take cold.
During every epidemic of disease some are stricken and die who could have lived had it not been for their fear of the disease and of death. Fear may kill more than disease when epidemics prevail.
The mere thought of taking a morning plunge or a cold shower may create a chill while in a warm bed. A cold bath taken with fear of injury may prove an injury. With a different state of mind, the same bath might have been a real blessing. Faith in God’s agencies is essential in order for them to be of the greatest benefit. The physician who prescribes open windows and fresh air for the patient who is afraid of air will be disappointed in the results. Should the patient carry out the physician’s advice, nine times out of ten it would result in demonstrating to his own satisfaction that the physician did not understand the case. The only hope of such patients is in the discovery that their experiences are unreliable unless they are in harmony with God’s Word and with true science.
The gospel heals the diseased mind. It contains the only reliable healing for the mind. To the poor palsied man who was suffering mentally, Jesus said, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” The Saviour of men understood fully this man’s physical and mental state. He recognized that to heal the palsied body he must first restore the palsied mind. This being done, he could say to the paralytic, “Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” There are many who could be healed of their physical maladies if only they possessed the consciousness of sins forgiven. The purpose of the gospel is “to bind up the broken-hearted, . . . to comfort all that mourn; . . . to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
The knowledge of being a blessing to others is conducive to health. “He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” Many hopeless invalids could be helped if they would think less of self and more about the needs of others. Selfishness and disease are closely related. “The merciful man doeth good to his own soul.” To his own people whose prayers reached no farther than self, and who bowed down their heads like a bulrush and said, “Wherefore have we fasted, . . . and thou seest not?” God said, “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? . . . Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him? . . . Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.”
Selfishness is responsible for much of the chronic invalidism that exists. Benevolence is a benediction to every cell of the body. “If you are feeling blue, something for some one else go do,” and “inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least, . . . ye have done it unto me.” “In blessing I will bless thee.”
Wrong habits are frequently responsible for despondency, depression, and lack of faith. The man who desires to get rid of a red nose, must abandon strong drink, if strong drink is the cause of the red nose. The prayer for patience God answers by making men temperate, if intemperance is the cause of impatience. When the nerves are on edge from the use of tea or coffee, and the least annoyance causes a nervous explosion, the remedy lies in the removal of the cause. The one who has spells of depression and despondency and thinks he has committed the unpardonable sin, can often assist in answering his prayer for relief by making a careful study of his food combinations. “As he eateth, so is he,” is an old German adage which has in it much truth.
(To be concluded)