“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.” Psalm 103:2-3
Several years after I became ill, my wife and I participated in a study of the book “Experiencing God”. That study was the first in a series of events over several years that would help me understand my illness from God’s perspective. One night during the small group review of our homework, Psalm 103 was discussed. As the group reviewed these verses, the frustration with my illness and the seeming lack of concern on God’s part became overwhelming and I left the room in tears. I could not understand Psalm 103:3 in the context of my health issues and it hurt deeply. I knew that I was probably missing the point of the text, but the words were haunting me.
From my perspective a good way to understand God’s view of healing is to look at the ministry of Christ. First we see that Christ is compassionate. Matthew 9:36 tells us that Christ felt compassion for the people because they were distressed. In this we see that God is affected by our suffering. However, as much as Christ felt compassionate and wanted to relieve the distress of the people, He did not heal them all. There were times when He chose not to relieve the suffering. Luke 5:16 tells us that He left the people to go to the wilderness to pray. People were left untouched so that Christ could have time with the Father. While He was able to heal, He was not obligated to do so and, therefore, healing was a compassionate gift as it continues to be today. It is not something that we are due. Further, we should be grateful for God’s sustaining grace and not be envious of those who have been healed. The second point to consider is that everyone who was healed eventually died. Consequently, even though there was an outpouring of grace at one point in their lives, eventually they still suffered the decline of the body and death. In the end, we must remember that healing was not the principle purpose of Christ’s ministry because there was a greater gift.
The greater gift was the forgiveness of sin and bestowing His righteousness upon all who would believe. Christ’s primary mission was to fulfill the law and sacrifice Himself that we might be reconciled with God. While Christ truly cared about those whom He healed, the miracles provided a platform for His real message “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) He knew that physical restoration was temporary but forgiveness of sin had an eternal impact as it addressed the sickness of the soul. When Jesus cured the paralytic in Matthew 9, He forgave his sins and then commanded Him to get up and walk. When we look at Psalm 103, the healing of disease comes after the forgiveness of sins. As in the story of the paralytic, the forgiveness of sin takes precedence. Matthew Henry explains that once the power of sin is broken, physical healing can take place. (For the record, one cannot rightfully assume that illness or the lack of healing is the result of sin. We are clearly told that Job’s calamities and the blindness of the man at the temple were not due to sin on their part, but rather that God’s purposes would be fulfilled. Further, the apostle Paul was not healed as evidence that God’s grace was sufficient.) From God’s point of view, healing of the soul is always more important. When we reverse that order and focus on physical healing in this life, it becomes an idol for us as we are giving our physical comfort greater priority than God’s will for us. As Christians, we have been given the greatest gift we can receive in the healing of our souls through Christ’s sacrifice and the acceptance of that gift.
When we look at the whole psalm, it’s a call to remember all of God’s benefits and worship in response. He lifts us up, He showers us with love and mercy, He satisfies us with good, renews us and works for righteousness and justice. Here David is reminding himself to remember all of the good that comes from the hand of God and out of gratitude worship Him. It’s so easy for us to forget the good in our lives when we focus on our troubles. Constantly dwelling on our difficulties becomes a negative mantra that drags us down and increases our stress level. The more we repeat the process, the worse our world looks even if there is no significant change. David reminds us to intentionally recall all that is good and holy in our lives and praise our Lord for those blessings which in turn lifts our spirit.
A couple of years after I left that room in tears, I was invited to a weekend of spiritual renewal. On the last night we were given time to reflect on what we had discussed and complete any unfinished business with God. It had been a good weekend, but as I reflected and prayed I was still struggling. The problem was that I was trying to accept my illness. I knew that I may be called to live many years with it, but could not comprehend that it was possible. Yet I knew that I must receive it as God’s good and perfect plan for my life. Several times a couple of godly men walked past me and asked if I was OK. I told them that I was fine despite the inner turmoil. Finally, when I realized that everyone else had left the room and that they were waiting on me, I admitted the problem and they began to address my fears reminding me that the grace to accept and to cope would not be given in advance, but would come as it was needed. This was the beginning of the healing of my soul. Since then, I have grown in my understanding. Life has not been easy but it has been blessed and I have learned to look for God’s provision and be grateful for it. I still struggle, but I know that my God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He has given me the greatest gift of salvation, He is healing my soul and everything else is a bonus. In that light, I can honestly say “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul.” It is an act of worship and gratitude in response to His greatest form of healing.