There’s a story that preachers sometimes use that goes like this: A man is stranded on a rock out at sea, the floodwaters are rising, and he’s going to drown. A rescue helicopter arrives, but the man waves it away saying, “I don’t need your help. God is going to save me.” Next a boat arrives but the man’s response is the same. Before long, the man drowns. In heaven he asks God why he didn’t save him; after all the man had put his faith in God. God replies, “I sent you a helicopter and a boat.”
Some people are like this man when it comes to their health. They’re suffering. They are in danger of drowning. They know and love Jesus, so they pray for healing. They believe he will hear them and end their suffering. However, they don’t recognise or acknowledge the ‘helicopter and boat’ God has sent them.
So, let’s look at the opportunities for good health that God has sent to those of us in the West in the 21st century.
- Most of us have the opportunity to choose a good, healthy diet.
- Most of us have the opportunity to supplement our diet with essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins, amino acids and essential fatty acids.
- Most of us have the choice to exercise.
- We may have the choice to get more sleep.
- We may have the choice to give up unhealthy habits.
- We have the choice to mitigate stress through prayer and Bible study.
- We have the opportunity to educate ourselves about health.
- We have access to a plethora of natural healing products and methods.
There are, of course, many wonderful examples of healing miracles in the Bible. These include a number of notable occasions where the sick person was expected to participate in their own healing and make use of natural healing substances.
In Isaiah 38, God granted Hezekiah 15 years more life. To receive this healing, he was required to put a lump of figs on the boil.
In 2 Kings 5, Naaman the leper was instructed by Elisha to go dip in the Jordan River seven times. At first Naaman refused, saying the rivers in his own country were better than the Jordan. In the end he relented, did as the prophet instructed, and was healed. (The Jordan is replete with healing minerals.)
In a similar incident in John 9, Jesus tells the blind man to go wash in the pool of Siloam.
In Mark 5, Jesus raises a 12-year-old girl from the dead. He then instructs that ‘something should be given her to eat’. Jesus could have just nourished her supernaturally (after all, he’d just raised her from the dead), but he chose to use normal food as a healing resource.
So, pray for your healing. Put your faith in Jesus, the true healer. And while you do that, take a look around at the healing opportunities God has provided for you. Don’t be like the drowning man who failed to see God’s provision of a helicopter and a boat. Open your eyes and see what God has provided for your health.