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Co-Working of the Divine and the Human
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The words spoken to Israel are true today of those who recover
health of body or health of soul. “I am the Lord that healeth thee.”
Exodus 15:26
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The desire of God for every human being is expressed in the
words, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper
and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
3 John 2
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He it is who “forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy
diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth
thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies.”
Psalm 103:3, 4
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When Christ healed disease, He warned many of the afflicted
ones, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
John 5:14
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Thus He taught that they had brought disease upon themselves by
transgressing the laws of God, and that health could be preserved
only by obedience.
The physician should teach his patients that they are to cooperate
with God in the work of restoration. The physician has a continually
increasing realization of the fact that disease is the result of sin.
He knows that the laws of nature, as truly as the precepts of the
Decalogue, are divine, and that only in obedience to them can health
be recovered or preserved. He sees many suffering as the result of
hurtful practices who might be restored to health if they would do
what they might for their own restoration. They need to be taught
that every practice which destroys the physical, mental, or spiritual
energies is sin, and that health is to be secured through obedience to
the laws that God has established for the good of all mankind.
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When a physician sees a patient suffering from disease caused
by improper eating and drinking or other wrong habits, yet neglects
to tell him of this, he is doing his fellow being an injury. Drunkards,
maniacs, those who are given over to licentiousness, all appeal to the
physician to declare clearly and distinctly that suffering results from
sin. Those who understand the principles of life should be in earnest
in striving to counteract the causes of disease. Seeing the continual
conflict with pain, laboring constantly to alleviate suffering, how
can the physician hold his peace? Is he benevolent and merciful if
he does not teach strict temperance as a remedy for disease?
Let it be made plain that the way of God’s commandments is the
way of life. God has established the laws of nature, but His laws are
not arbitrary exactions. Every “Thou shalt not,” whether in physical