The God Who Heals
Words of Hope for a Time of Sickness
· · ·
Johann Christoph Blumhardt
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Edited by Charles E. Moore
Foreword by Rick Warren
Plough Publishing House
Published by Plough Publishing House
Walden, New York
Robertsbridge, England
Elsmore, Australia
www.plough.com
© 2016 by Plough Publishing House
All rights reserved.
Print isbn: 978-0-87486-747-3
pdf isbn: 978-0-87486-750-3
epub isbn: 978-0-87486-748-0
mobi isbn: 978-0-87486-749-7
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Translated from the original German sources by Miriam Mathis
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Jesus of Nazareth, Matt. 11:28–30
Foreword
by Rick Warren
At some point in life, every person will experience suffering, pain, and eventually, death. It’s inevitable. When it happens, how are we going to respond?
Many of us, even Christians, struggle with God’s purpose when we are suddenly faced with a serious illness or terminal diagnosis. Our first response is to turn to God, asking him to spare us from the suffering. But what if his answer is not to heal us immediately but to perfect us through the suffering? Such a season can test our faith. But if we can surrender our will to his, through that pain God can deepen our faith, heal our soul, and restore our joy.
In their book, The God Who Heals, the Blumhardts remind us that physical healing is not God’s greatest answer to prayer. True healing is trusting God even when we lack understanding. It’s believing in the promises written in his Word, which renews our mind and lifts our spirit even as our body is failing. It’s not giving in to our fears. It’s about giving ourselves completely to Jesus. Whatever circumstance you are facing right now, this book of daily readings will help you focus on a closer relationship with Jesus, our one true spiritual healer.
When you go through deep valleys, God is there with you, walking alongside you as you experience suffering. He knows it well. He’s been there. He understands. As one who knows great pain, Jesus is our Great Comforter. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul tells us that just as God comforts us in our troubles, so too can we comfort others. How will you respond to the pain in your life? Our faith tells us that Jesus is the source of victory in our lives even in the midst of suffering. That’s because God doesn’t waste a hurt. He can use that pain to direct us in the way he wants us to go, to reveal what’s inside of us, to perfect us, and to make us more like himself. He is the Great Physician who specializes in bringing blessing out of pain.
Open up your life completely to him and get to know Jesus more intimately. Soak in these “words of hope for a time of sickness” by the Blumhardts and find healing strength for your soul. Hide God’s word in your heart, surrender your will, and trust in God’s promises. He will carry you through to eternity. You have his Word on it!
Pastor Rick Warren
Founder, Saddleback Church
Introduction
by Charles E. Moore
My friend and fellow pastor, Richard Scott, had just been diagnosed with cancer when he addressed our congregation: “People facing serious illness or death must ask themselves: What am I going to do about it? Will you allow it to change you? Or will you resist and avoid God’s will for your life?”
I have to admit those words bothered me. In what way did my friend need to change? He was one of the most humble and committed followers of Christ I knew. Besides, I had been taught that those battling serious illness needed to get well. Only then could they be of use to God, and to anyone else for that matter. They needed comfort, support, medical assistance. They needed life to get back to normal.
This was my first reaction. Yet deep down I knew that what Richard said was true. I had brushed against the stark reality of death before, when my wife was diagnosed with cancer at the age of forty. Everything stopped, everything changed. God was speaking to us, and we knew, though we never spoke about it, that her physical well-being was not the most important thing. Thankfully, through prayer, support from friends, and medical help, she recovered. But perhaps even more importantly, through this difficult experience God gave us a gift: something from above, something eternal, something lasting between and within us had become our main focus.
In our scientific age we are pounded with a different message – namely, that pain, sickness, and death are evils to be resisted at all costs. The marvels of modern medicine are trumpeted as the antidote to whatever might ail us, and there is almost always another available course of action, another treatment that holds promise. Even so, all of us have to contend with bodies that are frail and vulnerable to all kinds of disease, not to mention the inevitability of aging. And we know that having a healthy body is one thing; living a full and meaningful life, at peace with ourselves and others, is quite another.
There comes a time when each one of us has to face eternity. When this happens, our whole life is laid out before us. Richard experienced this when it became clear that his cancer was incurable. Yet despite his grim diagnosis, he lived as one who had experienced God’s healing. Again and again he pointed me, and many others, to the freedom and peace that come when we confess our sins and can stand before God with a clear conscience. “Ultimately, healing is given when we repent,” he once said. In his last days, he seemed more alive than ever before. He had embraced God’s will, and was at peace.
How did Richard come to this place of acceptance and inner certainty? And where did he find strength to hold on to it as his disease progressed? During his last months on earth, he often turned to the reflections you now hold in your hands (which I was sending to him and his wife to read as I discovered them). Written by two men of deep faith who cared for countless suffering souls during their lifetimes, the selections in The God Who Heals can help us today to live more fully, and with more purpose, despite our suffering. They show us what we need most in times of sickness.
Who are the Blumhardts, whose words have helped so many people? Johann Christoph Blumhardt (1805–1880) was a pastor in Germany. Early in his life it was obvious that he was destined to be used by God. This can be seen in his ability to turn his childhood peers to faith and in his early work among hardened youth. Blumhardt took on a small parish in Möttlingen, a remote village near the Black Forest. Here he came face to face with the evil forces of sickness, addiction, mental illness, and other afflictions he could only ascribe to demon possession that bound some in his congregation. When the local physician asked Blumhardt who was going to care for his patients’ souls, Blumhardt took up the challenge armed with prayer, patience, and persistence.
This spiritual battle began in earnest in 1841, for a young woman named Gottliebin Dittus who suffered recurring nervous disorders and various other strange and inexplicable “attacks.” Blumhardt embarked on a two-year-long struggle that ended in victory over demonic powers. He never could have anticipated what happened next. Almost overnight, the town of Möttlingen was swept up in an unprecedented movement of repentance and renewal. Stolen property was returned, broken marriages restored, enemies reconciled, alcoholics cured, and sick people healed. An entire village experienced what life could be like when God was free to rule. Jesus was victor!