Read 2 Corinthians 12:8–9

It is not God’s will that everyone be physically healed.

Those who believe it is, usually support their claims with the words of Isaiah:

He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Yet the whole flow of thought in Isaiah 53 emphasizes the inner, spiritual needs of humanity and Christ’s substitutionary suffering and death. That is why He was wounded and bruised. That is why He died...not to heal sick people but to give life to dead ones. He became our spiritual substitute that we might spiritually live...not that we might be physically healed.

Take Paul. Three times he asked God to remove the thorn of suffering—most likely a physical disability. Three times God answered “No.” Amazingly, the apostle declared not in frustration but with a peaceful resolve:

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (2 Corinthians 12:8–9)

Every time physical healing happens, God has done it. It occurs regularly. Occasionally it is miraculous. At other times, it is aided by proper diagnosis, expert medical care, essential medicinal assistance, plus good old common sense. No hocus-pocus. No mumbo jumbo. When God heals, there is no way humans have any right or reason to grab the glory.

Yet to all of us, laid low and often hindered by the frailty of our human condition, God says, “My grace is all you need.” And that grace is yours today—in full measure—to sustain you, to comfort you, to lift you from despair, and to bring you peace no matter the intensity or length of your trial.

His grace is all we need.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.