Human Standards

I was discussing healing with a friends the other day, and someone argued that it is not always God's will to heal by appealing to the historical pattern. "Saint Bernadette moved in healing miracles, and yet she suffered from an incurable disease that eventually killed her. So, it must not always be God's will to heal everyone."

Without saying anything about the conclusion of the argument, I just want to point out my thoughts about the argument itself. First of all, although it is ok to use godly humans as role models of certain virtues, I am wary of basing my theology off of any human's life (besides that of Jesus, of course). Besides God incarnate, no human is perfect. How can I assume that if person X displays godly virtue A, then person X also displays godly virtue B?

Let's take King David of Israel, for example. We know from Scripture that he is a man after God's own heart (see I Samuel 13:14). That's a good virtue for us to have, right? But does that mean we should understand that all of David's actions mirrored that virtue? Given that he had multiple wives, committed adultery (as if he didn't have enough wives already), and had the woman's husband killed, I think not. David had many very good virtues, but that does not mean that every one of David's actions (or even all of his habitual practices or lifestyle choices) should be venerated or replicated.

Thus, I want to set my expectations of how to live upon Jesus--the one and only human being that endured life on earth in perfection. It may be helpful to use godly examples from history to guide us, but I myself never want to be limited by the limitations of my human role models. So yes, perhaps Saint Bernadette displayed compassion for the sick in a godly manner, but please don't expect me to model my expectations off of her imperfections. Since I'm not God, I can't know for sure if Bernadette was sick because God wanted her that way (but I doubt that's the case) or rather if there was some unresolved issue in her life that prevented God from healing her. I don't want to blame God for His children's sicknesses when the blame should be placed on the devil and his works. I don't want to say that it's God's will for His children to be sick if there's a chance that it's our own lack of obedience that prevents our healing.

Praise the LORD, for He is good (Psalm 106:1)!