My mother is dying because she won’t take her medication and says God will heal her. What do I do?
Question:
Hello,
My mom is a cancer patient and recently she had a liver transplant. She went through multiple surgeries and has to take medication every month. But one day she decided not to take any medication and stopped going to appointments altogether. She put her life in God’s hand and hopes that God will cure her altogether.
At first, she told me that God was with her, and I also put my undivided faith toward God, but recently her skin started to turn yellow. The color of the whiteness of the eyes also started turning yellow. When my family saw this, we tried to persuade her to go to the hospital, but she refused, telling us that this was a test from God. I looked online and found out that what my mother had was jaundice. When I tried to persuade my mom to go to the hospital, she told me to wait and watch God’s miracle and that she will not die. She uses the Bible verses from the New Testament and from Job to prove this. She believes she will be healed according to her faith. I argued back telling my mom that through the doctor’s hand I believe that God will hear, but she believes that God will cure her as the way she believes.
I came here hoping to find out what I can do for my mother. I pray for her health every day, but her condition seems to be worsening every day. I want to know if there is anything I can prove to her through the Bible that going to the hospital is the right way. If not this, I wonder if it's just that lack of my faith in God.
Thank you for taking the time in reading my question and I hope for a fast reply. Thank you very much.
Answer:
"Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"" (Matthew 4:5-7).
Your mother doesn't realize it, but she is trying to put God to the test. She decided that God should miraculously heal her. She wants it done her way and on her terms. But when miracles were done in the Bible, people did all they could and then came to God to ask for a favor in having Him do what they could not. "Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped" (Luke 8:43-44).
Even in the times of miracles, miracles were not given just because someone believed. Paul had strong faith but Jesus declined to heal him. "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (II Corinthians 12:7-9). Jesus healed people who did not even realize who Jesus was, let alone believe in him. Miracles did not depend on the faith of the one being healed. Miracles were done for a purpose -- primarily to prove that the prophet was speaking on behalf of God. "God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (Hebrews 2:4). Miracles were uncommon and not everyone who was ill was healed by a miracle -- actually very few were.
God has never said that His followers should not go to doctors or take medicine. Actually, quite the opposite, see "Physicians, Doctors, Healers." The problem arises when a person puts their sole trust in what man is able to accomplish. That was Asa's problem. "And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians" (II Chronicles 16:12). You are putting the emphasis in the wrong place. The problem is that Asa only would see the physicians and refused to seek the Lord's help. It was his refusal to seek help from God that lead to his early death. "Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD" " (Jeremiah 17:5).
Just as man is expected to work for a living (II Thessalonians 3:10), but to also remember to thank God for the blessing of food on his table (Matthew 6:11), so should a man in all his life do what he is able to do and then lean on His God to make up for all his inadequacies.
