Discovering Spiritual Healing

John 3:12-21; Hebrews 4:14-16

Jim Davis

Solomon writes, “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3 NIV) I have seen people work their whole life for a retirement benefit and it disappears in a stock market crash over night. We build our dream homes and they are swept away in a storm. 

Solomon writes, “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say” (Ecclesiastes 1:6-8 NIV). Viewing life through the circumstances of our world turns life into endless, wearisome, nagging, hopeless cycle. 

Solomon writes “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises” (Ecclesiastes 1:5 NIV). Solomon saw life as a boring cycle of sunrises and sunsets because he had lost sight of God. 

Solomon writes, “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4 NIV). Solomon was observing life’s cycle. As he observed life he saw generations coming and going, but the earth remained the same. He observed how frustrating life was in the scheme of things! Solomon has been dead for almost 3,000 years, yet life goes on much the same as when he was on earth. There is nothing new under the Sun. 

I often walk through graveyards when I officiate at graveside services. As I read the dates and epitaphs on the headstones I think about the endless cycle of life and death. I wonder who these people were and what kind of life they live? What was the most important thing in life for them? Was it a meaningful life? Did they know the Lord? How soon will someone be walking over my grave thinking the same thing?

How many movie themes have revolved around searching for the lost Ark of the Covenant? Solomon built a magnificent temple to house it. I wonder what would happen if we actually found it? Solomon lost sight of the God whose eternal presence the Ark of the Covenant represented.  In all of Solomon’s accomplishments he lost sight of his purpose. Life became vain. When he looked at it all in light of life’s circumstances he felt hopeless. He concluded there was no meaning to this crummy existence called “life on planet Earth.” When Solomon looked at life through his circumstances he cried, “All is vanity.”

We feel the hunger for a better way of life when we focus on life through our circumstances. Those retreating from the storms of late, especially those who have nothing to return to are no doubt wondering about the madness of it all.

Who Is In Charge?

Asaph the Psalmist saw life much different; he refused to see life as a never-ending boring hopeless cycle. He saw life from altogether another vantage point. 

Psalms 74:16-17
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon. 
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter. NIV 

Asaph saw the rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars, as a sign of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness. The amazing thing about Asaph was these words were not written in the very best of times. They were not written when all was well with Israel. They were written in the worst of times. These are the verses before the ones I have just read. 

Psalms 74:4-9
4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; 
they set up their standards as signs. 
5 They behaved like men wielding axes 
to cut through a thicket of trees. 
6 They smashed all the carved paneling 
with their axes and hatchets. 
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
they defiled the dwelling place of your Name. 
8 They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!"
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land. 
9 We are given no miraculous signs;
no prophets are left,
and none of us knows how long this will be. NIV

Asaph is speaking of the destruction of Solomon’s magnificent temple. Yet, he sees God is in charge of the seasons of our lives—the good times and the bad. He was going through bad times, but he has reminded himself that his God was ruling. He refused to see life through his circumstances. Instead, he saw life from the vantage point of heaven—through the sovereignty of God. 

From the earthly vantage Solomon was sitting on top of the world when he bemoaned the vanity of life. Things were much different with Asaph—he was at the bottom of the heap. He had to be feeling self-condemned because Israel was suffering for turning her back on God. There was one major difference between Solomon and Asaph. Asaph saw who was in charge of his world. Solomon saw it as a hopeless mess.

We are not put here to be in charge of our circumstances. We are not put here to live in the best of circumstances. We were not put here to take charge of our circumstances. Our circumstances—good or bad—are given to us to awaken us to our need of someone more powerful than ourselves to handle them. James says it best: 

James 4:13-17
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. NIV

Circumstances have a way of saying you don’t measure up. Solomon’s circumstances led him to understand he was powerless to governor the future. Asaph’s circumstances led him to realize his present and future were in the hands of God. 

Playing the Blame Game

I like Psalms 74—in Asaph’s distress he sought to recognize who was in charge. The beginning of solving problems is to recognize who is in charge. Throughout the book of Job God never seeks to defend himself in all the accusations made against him by Job’s friends. He simply reminds Job and his friends WHO is in charge. Listen to all the questions God asks Job after all the debate of why Job was suffering.

Job 38:1-7
38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: 

2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel 
with words without knowledge? 
3 Brace yourself like a man; 
I will question you, 
and you shall answer me. 

4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? 
Tell me, if you understand. 
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! 
Who stretched a measuring line across it? 
6 On what were its footings set, 
or who laid its cornerstone— 
7 while the morning stars sang together 
and all the angels shouted for joy? NIV

We seek to figure out why things happen. The only explanation is that God reminds them that he is in charge of the circumstances. He doesn’t bother to give a reason. Job’s friends tell him the reason for his suffering is that he doesn’t measure up. They even sought to blame God for Job’s circumstances. 

We often begin looking for someone to blame for our circumstances. My wife and I tried to approach a person concerning his salvation. He asked, “How could God allow the terrible hurricanes to take so many lives and destroy so many homes.” He was playing the blame game. He felt blaming God for the evil in this world relieved him of his responsibility in his circumstances. If we conclude God is unfair, then we feel we have relieved ourselves. 

When blame turns into self-condemnation it becomes a severe form of punishment. We may feel that if we are hard enough on ourselves, then God want have to punish us. We seek to atone for our sins through self-condemnation. 

When self-punishment becomes to harsh it drives us to blame others for our mistakes in an effort to exonerate ourselves. It is just another way we seek to atone for our mistakes. 

The evening news has become the New Puritan Movement of our age. Let someone do something wrong and they are tarred and feathered on the evening news. The world leaves us believing that those who fail or suffer are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished. We not only receive condemnation for our failures; we are also quick to point an accusing finger at those who fail. 

A teenage daughter gets pregnant and the parents are more concerned with pinning blame than finding a biblical solution to the problem. You may blame the daughter who has brought reproach upon the family. Or the parents can blame themselves blame for failing as parents.

Condemnation is an extremely powerful destructive force. A kid gets caught stealing a bar of candy from a store, and his father reminds him for the rest of his life that he is a failure. He reminds him that he has no values—that he is a liar and a thief. The kid grows up thinking “No one as worthless as I am should feel good about himself.”

The blame game is Satan’s way of getting us to take our eyes off God. We dwell on the idea that someone should be blamed because we think someone should be responsible. It is easier to pin blame than it is to find solid biblical answers to our problems. The blame game keeps us from seeing life from God’s vantage point.

It is evident that something has gone wrong with God’s creation, but we aren’t left to muddle through life on our own. The potential for comfort, for change, and for growth lies in daily applying God’s word to our past and present circumstances. 

Someone said, “In Pinellas county travel will proceed at the maximum rate of speed that the flow of traffic will allow.” This is also how we live. We allow our circumstances to dictate how we live. 

God Doesn’t Blame

It’s fashionable in our time to attribute behavior to our circumstances. It’s our genes and family vices, temperament and educational opportunities, or lack of them, domineering parents and sibling rivalry. Certainly these all can leave their mark on our personality, but we must never lose sight of this fact: the circumstances of our lives do not determine what we can become in Christ.

John 3:16-21
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."  NIV

God doesn’t enter your life with blame. Blame and condemnation is a result of living in a dark world under the power of evil forces seeking to destroy us. The world needs no condemnation for it stands condemned already. All you have to do is just listen to the self-condemnation of the world. Jesus says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him . . . whoever does not believe stands condemned already . . .” (John 3:17-18).” Jesus came to save the world from its own condemnation of itself. Jesus says, “. . . whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” 

The crucial aspect of living for Christ is that we must see God’s presence in every circumstance. 

1 Corinthians 10:11-17
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. NIV

The impossible circumstances should remind us of God’s presence. God is not here to blame. God understands the nature of your temptations. God is here to provide a way of escape. It is our job to ask, seek and knock so we can see the door of escape. 

God seeks to give us a peaceful assurance of salvation as we embark on the Christian life. He wants us to understand that his power is sufficient to undo the misfortunes or our past and our present. He spends no time with blame and condemnation. He simply seeks to reconstruct our personalities for his future service.

Regardless of our circumstances and failures God invites us to boldly seek him in the midst of our troubles. 

Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. NIV

The Lord invites us to come to him when we have spent our lives in vain. Israel had labored to no purpose and she spent her strength in vain and for nothing. God had blessed her but she wasted her blessings. Yet, there was still a reward God wanted to give Israel.

Isaiah 49:3-4
3 He said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." 
4 But I said, "I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
and my reward is with my God." NIV

The Bible becomes meaningful when we approach it with a hunger and thirst to discover godly solutions to our problems. The Bible is given to us to give righteous answers to our problems. I can assure anyone that if we trust God and step out believing his word, God will accomplish for us far more than anything we could imagine.

Conclusion:

Looking at life through our circumstances may leave us feeling powerless. But we are not imprisoned in our circumstances. God is asking you to surrender control of your circumstances to him.

To experience God’s power for spiritual healing we must be keen on recognizing his presence in our circumstances. 

Jeremiah 10:23
23 I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own;
it is not for man to direct his steps. NIV