Second Causes

How grateful I am that we have the resource of sites like "Monergism" and others that provide a vast amount of solid Biblical teachings for free. I would not have the understanding I do today, nor would I and my family have known the transformation we are experiencing without this ministry.Yesterday I heard a great message by Wayne Grudem on the gifts of the Spirit that corrected some of my wrong thinking. Since God in His grace was pleased to open my eyes to the truth of the gospel and the knowledge of His sovereignty in all things I have been somewhat confused about healing and how I pray and not contradict God's sovereign will. I have found myself in settings where asked to pray with others for specific ailments and unable to speak because my prayers would be in direct opposition to those who asked me to pray. A little background is necessary here; I have been part of "charismatic" assemblies all of my Christian life who seem to believe, but would not admit, that God is a tool in their hands vs. (what I believe) we are a tool in His. Their prayers are more like demands, and refusals to believe are viewed as weak faith or lack of a right understanding of God. Their understanding of God is one that does not desire that any of His children should suffer in any way, and all suffering is a direct result of Satan. So, we rebuke Satan, pray very specifically, right down to the molecular structure, speaking to the muscles, etc. commanding them to line up, and all in the name of Jesus. While there is a very little truth in this caricature, it does not represent a Biblical view of the character of God and ignores much of what scripture says about the authority of Satan.What God revealed to my heart yesterday I had learned before but did not know... yes that is possible. It is the Holy Spirit that brings a revelation of God and truth through scripture, preaching, etc., while I had heard and even learned this tuth I did not know it. It can be found in The Westminster Confession which has this beautiful statement; "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established." (WCF 3.1) The understanding of two words, "second causes" is what cleared up the whole matter for me yesterday.Yes God does heal! I knew that but how did I reconcile this with the truth that yes God is sovereign? He uses sickness, illness, pain, suffering of any and all types to fulfill His purposes on the earth, but He also uses the supernatural (Boy it scares me to say that word because of the gross distortions I have seen in the circles I travel in). Can we command God to do a thing? Should we command God to do a thing we see as proper with our wretched feeble humanistic sympathic minds? Do we really have that kind of authority? I have to admit I don't have the answers to those questions yet, but He in His divine will has ordained the use of "second causes", and that includes my prayers for the sick, it includes the laying on of hands, it includes the anointing of oil, it includes the preaching and teaching of the word, it includes personal study, it includes websites like monergism, it includes deep abiding friendships. Will He always heal... What's been your experience? What's been mine? No, of course He doesn't... Is He good regardless of whether or not He chooses to heal? Yes of course He is.I am constantly reminded when I think of the overemphasis on healing in the church today of the multitudes that followed Jesus after He fed them in John 6, until He explained the cost of being His disciple in that same chapter and they all went away except those He had chosen. It wasn't healings that caused the New Testament Church to grow, it was persecution. If it wasn't for the stoning of Steven they would've never left Jerusalem. So... pray for the sick, and especially for those whom He does not know yet. God may open a door to thier heart through your compassion. Perhaps prayer does a little more than just change me.