Does God want us to be healthy and happy and prosperous?

This is a question that has plaqued me over the past several months. Now, I don't want to go into talking about our infertility and all the thousands of questions that has brought up. That would show my great lack of faith and I'm not ready to be that transparent on the blog! I'll save that for my small group of friends. But this idea of health and happiness, well it just doesn't make much sense to me.

I am often faced directly with questions about this. I don't want to go into specifics, but there are a few people in my life who believe that a part of faith is believing that what you ask for will happen. I do not argue this point. I do believe that is what faith is, "the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen." But here is where my questions lie.

I know that faith is believing that what you ask for is going to happen. But I also believe in the absolute soverienty of God. I believe that God can and will heal people if it is done for his glory. I also believe that God reveals himself through sickness. It is an absolute lie to say that God's will is for all of his children to be healed. What about Paul?

Paul prayed three times that the thorn in his flesh be removed. It was not. Because God revealed to him that through his weakness Christ was shown. "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9). So when we demand things from God, whether it be healing or a change in circumstances, I believe that sometimes we are missing out on what we can learn through our weakness.

It bothers me that millions of Americans hold strongly to the belief that God desires for us to be happy, healthy, and prosperous. I do not dare say that God does not want his children to be happy....but what I do say is that the source of that happiness doesn't come in ways that modern day culture would suggest. Quit the opposite I'm sure.

It bothers me, but it doesn't surprise me. Most of us don't want to be challanged. We don't want things to come along and mess up our perfect little utopias that we have created for ourselves. So we don't dig deeper. We don't pursue true Godliness. Because if we are completly honest with ourselves, we don't want to live as Jesus did. We don't want to spend our time with sinners, beggers, the sick and the desolate. We are plaqued by our comfort.

So does God want us to be happy, healthy, and prosperous? My answer to this question is yes, he does. But those words take on a dramatically different meaning when looked at through the lens of Christ. He does want us to be happy....absolutely content in any circumstances we are in becuase we know he is in control. To quote John Piper "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him."

He does want us to be healthy. We should be good stewards of our bodies and our gifts, but we all know that we are going to die. Disease happens, sickness happens. We live in a fallen world. Our bodies and our healthiness will not be all it is supposed to be this side of heaven. So in the end he has promised us new bodies. Spirtual bodies, without disease and sickness. But those things are to come after this life.

I also believe that he does want us to be prosperous. Not so much with wealth, but prosperous in the things of the spirit. Wealthy with generosity, self control, humility, etc... If we have all of these things, we realize the need for financial gain is of little importance. And once again, we will not recieve our rewards this side of heaven. All Christ has promised us is himself.

So through sickness, disease, infertility, poverty, war, and all kinds of hurt...the response should be submissiveness to what God is trying to accomplish in our lives for his glory. Maybe we will be healed, and if so that is great. Then we know we have witnessed a miracle. But maybe we won't. And that is ok to.