“Bless the Lord ... who heals all your diseases.” What an
astounding claim! What an extravagant promise! The Lord
heals all your diseases. Not some of them, not most of
them, but all of them. Do we believe that? Do we think that
is true?
Then, if the Lord heals all our diseases, what about Melvia
Harrison’s disease? Why did not the Lord deal with
interstitial lung disease? Can we who knew and loved Melvia
Harrison bless a Lord who heals all diseases, but who
missed this one?
True, we have gathered today not so much to wrestle with
theological questions as to say farewell. We have come
together not for a seminar in logic or a short course in
theology, but we are here to hear good news and to be
assured of eternal life. Our minds are not set for dealing with
unanswerable questions today. Nevertheless, the issue
lingers: can the Lord heal all our diseases? Melvia Harrison
believed it and prayed for it. Some of you sat with her in her
living room, as did I, and prayed with her toward that. “All
your diseases” – is it empty promise, claiming too much; or is
it a precious reality we have not understood? “All your
diseases” – is it breezy salesmanship from the Lord, like the
used car salesman who promises that his wares will run
forever? Or is it something more profoundly true than we
have ever thought? We deserve to know. And Melvia’s
memory is best honored by discovering the “allness” of all!
The Psalmist seems very committed to “allness”: “All that is
within me, bless his holy name .. do not forget all his benefits
.. who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.”
Is there truly good news in this “all” business?
I first came to know Melvia Harrison as more than someone
sitting in our pews when I visited with her as she was
considering membership in this church. She had been here
on several occasions, and I had noticed her. She was not
hard to miss, with the breathing tubes and oxygen tank. I
wanted to respond to her interest in our church, and I wanted
to know more about her health concern.
I found out that Melvia Jean Harrison was a great deal more
than a sick person. She was not going to be defined by her
disease. She was going to be vastly more than a person
whose options were limited by illness. She was going to be
far more than someone struggling for the breath of life.
Melvia Harrison did not define herself as nothing more than a
suffering patient; she saw herself as one who was being
healed and becoming whole. In our visit, Melvia told me
about her disease only because I pressed her for
information. But she was far more interested in talking about
other things. She was clear that I was there to meet Melvia
Jean Harrison, the whole person, and not just Melvia the
bearer of breathing tubes!
Does that give us a clue about the God who is presumed to
heal all our diseases? Listen to the way the Psalmist points
to the allness of God.
I
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits
– who forgives all your iniquity.” God’s desire for us to be
whole begins with His intention to deal with all of our spiritual
sickness. God forgives all our iniquity; God deals first with
our spiritual disease.
I trust that no one will think me guilty of lack of respect if I
speak of Mrs. Harrison as in need of forgiveness, because all
of us are in need of forgiveness. The Bible says that “all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. There’s
that “all” word again. There are no exceptions. All have
sinned, all need forgiveness. But hear the good news: the
Lord forgives all our iniquities.
Melvia Harrison found that. Her heart yearned for a profound
and life-changing encounter with the living God. Like more
than a hundred members of this church, Melvia worked
through a discipleship course called, “Experiencing God”.
This course forces anyone who participates to examine his
own heart, to scrutinize motives, and, above all, the
“Experiencing God” course focuses on obedience – knowing
and then actually doing the will of God for your life. Melvia
worked through “Experiencing God” and there renewed her
confidence that God had dealt with her, not just out here on
the surface, but down at the very core of who she was. God
had dealt with the issue of sin.
If God is going to heal all our diseases, He must begin with
all our iniquities. He must begin with our spiritual selves.
Nothing else really happens until that is done. So today we
are grateful that God’s allness forgave all her iniquities.
II
But God did something more for Melvia’s all. He not only
forgave all her iniquities; He also redeemed her life from the
depths of despair. He brought her back from disappointment
and frustration. The Psalmist puts it in a very picturesque
way; He says that God “redeems your life from the Pit”.
Isn’t that graphic? Doesn’t that say it all? We speak about
something being “the pits”. When something is just awful,
excruciatingly bad, the worst, we say it was “the pits”. I’ve
heard people talk about their work that way – my job is the
pits. I’ve listened to people describe their houses that way –
my basement is the pits. They mean that there everything
has deteriorated so far they cannot imagine it getting any
worse. The lowest of the low. The pits.
But God redeems your life from the Pit. Melvia was
determined that her life be useful and positive. Sick as she
was, she focused on the needs of others and did her best to
serve them. Some of us would go to console her – two of
our deacons brought her Communion only a few weeks ago
– and she would say, “I want to help”. “I can bake
something. Do you need a cake for some occasion?” Melvia
had discovered, with the help of the Lord, that the way to
climb out of the emotional pit that sickness wants to dig for
you is to focus on the needs of others. If you plant yourself
in a pity party, you will plummet to the pits pronto! But if you
plant your feet on higher ground and focus on what you can
do for others, the pits will turn to lofty planes.
This truth the Lord put deep into Melvia’s hear. He
redeemed her life from the Pit. If God is to heal all our
diseases, He begins with all our iniquities, and then He
works with all our disappointments. God’s allness redeemed
her from the Pit.
III
But there is still more. Still more to God’s all. God has
promised to deal with all our iniquities, all our despair, and
more, God has promised to deal with all our relationships.
With all our loneliness. With all our anxieties. The Psalmist
is quick to say that the Lord “crowns you with steadfast love
.. He satisfies you with good as long as you live”.
The Lord “crowns you with steadfast love”, for He knows that
we are made for fellowship, and that we cannot live without
someone to care for us. He “satisfies [us] with good as long
as [we] live”, for He knows that we must matter to somebody.
We need to know that when all is said and done, there is
someone there for us, and we are not alone. Steadfast love
and satisfaction.
Family, thank you for your presence for Melvia. Thank you,
Mr. Harrison, for more than forty years of marriage, faithful
companionship, quiet, steady, unassuming presence.
“Steadfast love” – constant and certain. It’s so important. It
was God’s gift for her and for you.
Thank you, Christopher and Andre and Michael, for your
exceptional devotion to your mother. She spoke of you
often, with great affection. She was proud of your
achievements and astonished at your strength. You stayed
by her side and treated her with tenderness. You were the
instruments through which the Lord crowned her with
steadfast love. You were the marks of her satisfaction. We
honor you for that.
And thank you, people of God, who embraced her in this
fellowship. Melvia came to us looking for a church that
would reach out, express concern, demonstrate interest, and
connect. You did that. Some of you had known her from
your nursing profession connections; many of us knew
others of her family already in this church. But all of us
reached out, touched her, embraced her, and she felt at
ease in this spiritual family. She felt satisfied here. Thank
you, people of God, who were the channels for God’s love.
Through all of you, God gave His allness. He filled up an
empty soul, He fueled a starving heart, He crowned Melvia’s
life with steadfast love. He satisfied her with good things as
long as she lived.
Conclusion
But still .. all your diseases? Have we dealt with that issue?
It may be that God dealt with all of Melvia’s iniquity, forgiving
her completely. It may be that God dealt with all of her
despair, redeeming her life from the pits by pointing her
toward serving others. And it may be that God dealt with her
need for love and satisfaction by surrounding her with family
and church. But what of all her diseases? He heals “all your
diseases.” That promise lingers.
Friends, God has not promised that this earthly life will
persist forever. God has not built us to remain in this frame
of dust endlessly. We do not like to think about that, but it is
true. The youngest and the most healthy of us will someday
face mortality. God has said, right here in this Psalm, that
“he knows how we are made, he remembers that we are
dust” But then it says that, “ the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” This
life is brutally short, but the love and care of God are not
limited to this life alone, but are from everlasting to
everlasting.
Brothers and sisters, remember today that God, who has
done all this, is able to do even more. Remember that God,
who has forgiven iniquity, is able to provide freedom forever.
Remember that God, who has redeemed despair, is able to
give complete joy. Remember that God, who has
surrounded us with steadfast love, is able to hold us into
eternity. Remember that God, who gave life, who created
this mortal body, has promised, in Christ Jesus, the gift of a
new body: imperishable, undefiled, whole, without pain,
without suffering, without shortcomings. God has declared,
no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering, no more
dying. All diseases healed. All. For “the steadfast love of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who
[fear] Him.”
Family, trust God today. Because Jesus Christ is raised
from the dead, I know that Melvia too will live. Because she
trusted this Christ as her savior, I know that she will be with
the Lord forever. Because she came to God in faith, hearing
His word, sharing with His people, and, most of all, because
she believed in the allness of God, today He has healed all
her diseases. And He can heal all of yours too – your
heartache, your sorrow, your disappointment, your doubts,
your fears. All. All. Only trust Him, only trust Him. All your
diseases.
