p. 4 | THE DIVINE HEALER by M. E. OLSEN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 14, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 24.

THE DIVINE HEALER.

By M. E. OLSEN

"Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of My people recovered?"

Jesus Christ is the Great Physician, the Healer alike of the diseased body and the sin-sick soul. Such He was when He walked upon the earth in human form; such He is to-day after He has returned to the Father, and received of Him all power in heaven and earth. Contact with the Saviour means health to the believer to-day just as much as it did to the poor woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of His garment, and was made whole.

Why, then, are so many professing Christians afflicted with disease? What reason can be given why God's people, take it on the whole, do not seem to enjoy better health than unbelievers? These are questions which should be pondered well. Health is too great a blessing to be lightly regarded.

Every good gift, the apostle James tells us, is from above; and comes down to man from the Father of light. This includes health as well as all other blessings. By means of our faith the channel is kept open. When unbelief is permitted to enter the heart, the channel is stopped up, and the stream of blessing ceases to flow. If we ask of the Lord health, in faith, nothing wavering, as we are bidden to do, we shall receive it.

Nevertheless, it is to be remembered that true faith is active, not passive. Paul tells us that it works by love, and James says that faith without works is dead. Hence it follows that a person who exercises faith in the healing power of Christ will conscientiously obey His Word in all things, adhering strictly to those habits of eating and drinking which an enlightened judgment pronounces right.

It would be absurd for a man to throw himself into the river and then ask God to keep him from drowning, or to fill himself with whisky and ask God to keep him from being drunk. So also it is absurd to go on eating bad food, living in poorly-ventilated rooms, and ask God to give us healthy stomachs, strong lungs, and clear, retentive minds.

God's efforts in behalf of man are limited by the unwillingness on man's part to fully co-operate with Him. When He is given the right of way, He can do great things for the weakest of His children. The Gospel in its fullness means health of body as well as of soul, and the Christian life, rightly viewed, involves obedience to the physical laws of the Creator as well as to His moral laws.

Sickness is the result of sin; it belongs to Egypt. God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, and in doing so promised them that He would keep them in health provided they kept His laws. God has not changed; the same arrangement holds good with His people to-day. If we find ourselves incapacitated by sickness for the Master's work, let us diligently study the laws of our being, and having put ourselves in harmony with them as far as in us lies, rest assured that God will make His part of the bargain good by restoring us to health. M. E. OLSEN.