Reading a letter from a church member about an undisclosed illness, Mark Driscoll answers the question in this video, “Am I not healed because I lack faith?”
The church member writes, “I’ve had church leaders lay hands on me and pray, the Bible says to do that, and I’ve prayed and I’ve gone through counseling and still the pain remains. I’ve been told that as a result I don’t have enough faith to receive the healing…I just have not understood why I have not been healed yet.”
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Driscoll understands why people ask, “Why does God allow suffering?” But he called the question and the advice the writer was given, “frustrating….You take someone who is burdened and you give them an additional burden.”
“Faith healing is false teaching,” Driscoll declares. “It says you can make God heal you, you can force God to do your will.”
Faith healers reveal the difference between Christianity and Paganism, Driscoll explained. Christianity teaches that God is in control. Paganism says you can make God do what you want.
Driscoll calls that a god “you have to make be God.” But it’s not reality. God is free to do whatever he knows is best.”
He uses the story of Job to shed light on the biblical answer to pain and suffering.
Job was described as a very righteous man but he lost everything–his children, his property, even his health.
Driscoll said the calamities Job endured revealed his faith.
Although his wife told him to curse God and die, he remained faithful.
Job’s friends, who Driscoll described as “guys who sounded like they were in Bible college”, offering advice that was “all theological and theoretical, not personal and practical.” They thought Job’s troubles were the result of sin.
Job’s story reveals sometimes there’s hidden sin and sometimes there’s not. According to Driscoll, often, we just don’t know the cause of pain and suffering.
“Faith is trusting what is unseen,” Driscoll tells us.
You can see Driscoll’s message here.
