Last year 11 year old Madeline Neumann died of type 1 diabetes at her home. Her parents are currently on trial for reckless homicide because they did not take her to a doctor. They prayed for her healing because they live by faith and “trusts the Lord for everything”, according to her father at his trial.

This is not an isolated case. There are numerous stories of people refusing certain types of health services because of their religious belief. In a lot of those cases, children and babies have died. Apart from having the faith that God would heal them, they also reason that even with medical care, if God chose for them to die, well there is nothing that can be done, they will die anyway. Maybe, but maybe not.

“Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see”. Hebrews 11:1 NLT

The bible also says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6

However, I do not think that God expects us to replace faith with common sense and good judgement. Even though the bible teaches that we should depend on God for our needs (Matthew 6:33), that does not mean we should not make use of the services and resources available to us.

How then should we use our faith?

The bible gives numerous examples of how people used their faith.

• It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God’s sight. Hebrews 11:7
• It was by faith that Sarah together with Abraham was able to have a child even though they were too old and Sarah was barren. Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. Hebrews 11:11
• It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid of what the king might do. Hebrews 11:23

These are just a few of the examples. These people used their faith in circumstances that would otherwise be impossible.

If you have a health condition that is deemed ‘incurable’ by doctors, then by all means use your faith in God to heal you. If it is something that can be easily treated by modern medicine, then let the doctors do what is necessary.

Whatever difficult circumstances you are going through in your life – job loss, financial difficulties, relationship problems – you can depend on God to get you through it. However, you must do your part. You cannot just sit around waiting for miracles, make a start and God would do the rest.

Seven years ago after my son was born he developed jaundice.  It was a pretty severe case as the jaundice kept rising.  The doctor eventually told me if the jaundice does not go down, he may have to get a blood transfusion.  That was a very scary thought to me.  I did not want my son to go through a blood transfusion, not because of any religious beliefs, but because I did not trust our health care system.  I prayed to God when I got home to heal my son of that jaundice.  The next day, the hospital called and told me to come and pick up my son as the jaundice had gone down considerably.   I rushed over there and brought my son home.  He is now a health six year old (he’ll be seven in November) who can’t sit still.

I have a 42 year old autistic brother.  For years I watched my mother struggle to get help for him.  As a child she took him to numerous doctors who could not find anything wrong with him.  It was not until he was 17 years old that a social worker visiting from the US told us that he was autistic.  She spent some time tutoring him to read and do basic arithmetic.  He was doing quite well, but she had to return to the US because she was not succeeding with the business she was trying to set up in our country.

My brother remained years unschooled because regular schools could not take him in and special schools, the few that there were, could not accommodate him.  She tried various other means to keep him occupied but nothing lasted very long. 

Then the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago was formed and my mother became a member by much coaxing of a neighbour of hers who has an autistic daughter.  Now my brother has a private tutor and access to other programmes via the Autistic Society.  I now see how my mothers’ prayers have paid off and her faith never waivered.  She said she always knew something would happen for her son, and so it has.  My mother is now 70 years old.

I am a firm believer in the bible and faith is something God expects us to have and live by.  But we must be careful to not let our faith be to the detriment of others.  As I mentioned earlier, common sense and good judgement must also be used.