Why Would A Good God Not Heal?

~ Mike Leake

“If you will, you can make me clean”. –Mark 1:40

That statement in the gospel of Mark really tugs at my heart. I see my own heart in the statement of this desperate leper. He knows that God can do anything, but He isn’t sure that He wants to. He’s found in Jesus the man who can touch His greatest hurt and wash Him clean…but will He? Jesus’ ability isn’t up for debate, but apparently His heart is.

It’s likely years of shame which has this leper questioning whether Jesus would want to heal him. Ed Welch says it well:

“…shame can deliberately undermine any possible success. If you catch a whiff of something good, you treat it as a threat. You run from it, drink at it, drug at it, sabotage it…People who live with shame believe they don’t deserve anything good. Sure, others get hurt by shame’s self-destructive ways, but its not as if you wanted to hurt them. You are doing your loved ones a favor (you think) if you distance yourself from them. You will ruin lives eventually, so you might as well get it over with.” (Shame Interrupted, 32)

There is more: http://www.mikeleake.net/2018/02/why-would-a-good-god-not-heal.html