There are many things one expects to learn at college - math, English, music, art, science, etc., and some would even include things like how to do laundry, how to make an efficient schedule, the most profitable way to study, etc. At Bob Jones, one also (hopefully) expects to learn more about the Bible and its Author. All of these things I am learning here at BJU, but there is so much more here than that. God has placed me here for a reason. Every day there is another instance where I see this, and it still surprises me! It is SUCH an encouragement to see how God uses the events in your past to help illustrate the lessons you are learning today. He is truly all-wise.
Today, I was able to experience another such instance. In my counseling class this morning, someone asked what the teacher thought of a family's prayer to heal one of its members, then having to bury that member soon after. The student pointed out a passage we had been looking at (James 5:13-18) and was somewhat confused. The teacher responded by asking what his initial prayer request for the cancer person was. The student replied "for healing". The teacher paused for a moment, then asked the class if they thought this was a good prayer request. Most people were silent. Another brave student raised his hand. This other student stated that nothing was wrong with it, and that he was wondering about verse fourteen as well. Something was not making sense here...then one young lady seated toward the front raised her hand and quietly answered, "We never know how God may use something such as cancer. It may have been that He was using that situation in someone else's life. It was not in His perfect plan to heal that one on earth, though they are eternally healed now. When we pray, if our goal in life is God's glory, we should pray that His will be done, not that our will be done, and praise Him whatever the outcome." Again, there was silence in the room as each mind contemplated this idea that had been introduced. The teacher agreed, and continued to expound on this idea.
After discussion about HOW we should pray, he then addressed the confusion about verse fourteen. He suggested a better way to read the word "sick" in that particular instance as "weak", "discouraged", or "afflicted". Here is the passage in question:
14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The teacher explained that this passage was addressed to a people who were being "afflicted" for their beliefs. According to him, this passage was intended for people who are severely discouraged or afflicted - people who were weak and needed help. He added that it made no sense for people to come straight to the elders for a physical ailment, when the elders were not trained as physicians. When you view the passage "as it was intended", it makes perfect sense for a weak, discouraged, and afflicted person to come before his fathers and ask for help. "Healing" that affliction with "anointing of oil" begins to make much more sense, and naturally fits.
As he was talking, I understood what he was talking about. There is no doubt in my mind that someone can be so discouraged, so weak, so afflicted, that they need the support of their "elders". Someone can become so discouraged that it makes them literally weak and even "sick". It is not a very pretty sight. I am firmly convinced that being constantly spiritually discouraged can be even more addicting than worry. From personal experience, I KNOW that when you come to a point where you yourself have lost hope and feel like you cannot pray, you need to go to those who are there to help specifically with your spiritual life (or lack thereof). They come around and pray for you, and also "anoint you with oil" or as the teacher put it, they help you "wash up". When someone becomes discouraged and loses hope, they tend to become slightly disheveled and unorganized. These people come around to help "put you back on your feet".
This passage made sense to me. I agreed with what he was saying, and yet some in the class begged to differ. Though ashamed of my sin that messed me up and put me in most of my "hard times", I am so thankful that God walked me through them. He is working here. He is most definitely working here...
*~FUR~*
Proverbs 31:30
Psalm 19:14
No comments:
Post a Comment