When You Pray, but Healing Doesn’t Come: How to Respond as a Christian in Medicine
This is a question that is on the minds of so many, yet there aren’t clear-cut answers readily available: “What do you say to someone who prayed for healing, but it didn’t come?” As a Christian in the medical field, this question weighs heavily on my heart. I’ve sat in moments where patients or their loved ones are wrestling with their faith because they feel their prayers were unanswered. The tension in those moments is palpable, and as someone who believes in both the power of prayer and the science of medicine, I often feel a deep sense of responsibility to respond with care, truth, and grace.
It’s not just a theoretical dilemma; it’s a very real, human experience. Perhaps you’ve been there too—either as the one praying or as the person who needs to provide an answer. I have actually been that patient. I spent the first 15 years of my life in and out of hospitals - facing near death experiences sometimes and others just plagued with disease that ate my entire body leaving me miserable. I remember crying out to God in my distress. This was an emotional plea to God, I was Christian but did not know much about “word based prayers”. Nonetheless I prayed to God to heal me and if he did I would spend the rest of my life serving him. My healing was immediate but but it came years later and till this day i’m entirely grateful to God.
The Boy Who Made Me Stop and Think
I recently watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where a young boy comes into the ER crying. He’s losing his vision due to a brain bleed, and through his tears, he says something that struck me: “I prayed, and I believed, but it didn’t go away. Did I do something wrong?” He believed that if he prayed hard enough, his sickness would leave him. The heartbreak in his voice was gut-wrenching.
I was transported to the many times I’ve encountered similar moments in real life. Maybe it was a parent praying for their child in the ICU or a patient quietly asking why God hasn’t taken their pain away. In those moments, it’s not just about the physical condition—it’s about a spiritual crisis. And the question looms: What do you say to someone when healing doesn’t come?
Wrestling with Unanswered Prayers
First, let’s acknowledge the weight of this question. When someone prays for healing and it doesn’t happen, it can feel like God is distant or uncaring. It can feel like faith wasn’t enough, or worse, that God didn’t hear at all. These feelings are valid. They are deeply human. But as Christians, we know that God’s ways are not always ours to understand.
Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
This verse doesn’t erase the pain of unanswered prayers, but it gives us perspective: God’s plan is bigger than what we can see, even in moments of confusion and heartbreak.
What Can We Say?
When faced with this question, I believe it’s important to speak from both empathy and truth. Here are three things I try to convey when a patient or loved one asks why their prayers for healing weren’t answered:
1. God’s Timing and Ways Are Higher Than Ours
This is not an easy truth, but it’s a necessary one. Healing is not always immediate, and sometimes it may not come in the way we expect. We live in a broken world where pain exists, but God is always at work—even when we don’t understand how. Trusting God means trusting His timing, even when it’s hard.
Scripture: Isaiah 55:8-9
2. God’s Grace Is Sufficient
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul writes about a “thorn in his flesh” that God did not remove, despite Paul’s prayers. Instead, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Sometimes, God’s answer isn’t removing the trial but giving us the strength and grace to endure it. In the midst of pain, His grace sustains us in ways we often only recognize later.
3. God Is Always Working for Our Good
Romans 8:28 reassures us that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Even in the pain, God is shaping us, refining us, and drawing us closer to Him. This doesn’t diminish the suffering, but it reminds us that suffering is not wasted. God is always doing something good, even when we can’t see it yet.
Walking This Out in Medicine
As someone navigating both faith and medicine, I have to remind myself that I am not God. I am a vessel. My role is to bring compassion, wisdom, and truth into moments of suffering while trusting God to do the rest. I’ve learned that I don’t need to have all the answers. Sometimes, what a person needs most is someone to sit with them in their pain and point them gently toward God’s love.
I remember one patient who told me, “I’ve given up praying because it feels pointless.” My heart broke for them, but I softly reminded them that God doesn’t ask us to pray because we can control the outcome—He asks us to pray because it draws us closer to Him. Prayer isn’t about “fixing” things; it’s about communion with a God who loves us through the storm.
The Mystery of Faith
The mystery of unanswered prayers can be hard to reconcile, but I believe there is beauty in the tension. It reminds us that we are not the authors of our own stories—God is. And as much as we wish for quick resolutions, the journey of faith is often about trusting Him through the unknown.
If you are in medicine, you will have moments when you are asked to give answers to impossible questions. My advice is this: Don’t rely on your own words. Lean on God’s Word. Scripture is full of reminders of His goodness, His faithfulness, and His plans for redemption. Share those truths with humility and empathy, and trust the Holy Spirit to work through you.
Final Thoughts
To anyone struggling with unanswered prayers—whether as a patient or someone walking alongside them—I want to leave you with this: God is not absent. He is near. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” If you’re in pain, know that He sees you. He hears you. And He is with you, even in the waiting.
If this is a question you’ve faced as a Christian in medicine, I’d love to hear your thoughts. How do you navigate these moments of tension between faith and the realities of medical outcomes? Let’s keep the conversation going
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