Helping to Heal

We can look to the Lord as our great healer - when we encounter sickness and suffering, we can go to Him in prayer and call on His mighty name.  It is God's nature to heal and restore and we see that in
Exodus 15:
24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there He tested them,
26 and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

So, we recognize God's love, His nature, and His power.  We suffer with a variety of ailments in this life and in this fallen world.  We are prone to question God when we don't see the outcome we desire, but that doesn't mean He is not working.  We have to recognize that His ways are higher.  But, that doesn't mean we cannot and do not call upon Him in those times in which we are suffering physically.

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Jesus was our example for prayer and in how he specifically prayed for those who are sick.  And, the
Bible instructs us to offer up prayers for those who are suffering. James 5 addresses that topic:
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Our faith in Christ should inform that work that we do, and when we have the opportunity, we can demonstrate to those whom we serve that we belong to Him.  That applies to the medical profession, where studies show that prayer for patients is an accepted practice.

There is a case from Great Britain involving a nurse named Sarah Kuteh.  According to Christianity Today, she "was fired from the hospital where she had worked for nearly a decade because she spoke with patients about her faith, passed out Bibles, and sang hymns on the job. Last month, a UK court rejected Kuteh’s most recent appeal."

The article says that Sarah initiated spiritual discussion and disobeyed her superiors. The story says: "Her lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre are considering further action as questions continue to come up around the appropriate place for religious expression in healthcare—particularly when a sizable number of patients indicate they welcome spiritual care from their providers."

The Christianity Today article referred to similar cases, including a 2008 incident in which a UK nurse named Caroline Petrie "was suspended from her job for offering to pray for a patient during a home visit. The patient reported the event, saying she was 'taken aback,' though not offended. Petrie was later reinstated."

There has been some polling about the injection of prayer into a medical situation.  The article states:

In response to the Petrie case in 2008, Nursing Times conducted a survey that found 91 percent of the 2,500 respondents felt Petrie should not have been suspended for offering to pray with her patient. The survey also found that 40 percent of nurses had been asked by a patient to pray and more than 9 in 10 (91%) said nurses praying for patients could sometimes be appropriate.

A 2018 Medscape poll found that 88 percent of nurses were “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with praying with or for patients. Nearly 8 in 10 (77%) physicians said the same, along with 73 percent of medical students.

The article reports that 87% of nurses, 69% of physicians, and 75% of medical students related that they "always or frequently" accept patient requests to pray with them."  Also, the story states:

Not only are medical professionals willing and able to pray with patients, but “the majority of patients believe that spiritual care by physicians is important,” according to a recent study in the AMA Journal of Ethics. Approximately half say that want their doctors to pray with them.

James A. Tulsky of the Harvard Cancer Center is quoted; he says: “To ignore spirituality is to ignore a central piece of what it means for many people to be a patient.”

Certainly we can acknowledge that prayer in the workplace can be a tricky issue - sensitivity to the Spirit is required. But you can look for, and where appropriate, take advantage of the opportunity to pray with someone else.

The offer to pray for someone else can help to build a bridge with someone else to introduce them to Christ.  Perhaps you, like I, have heard of people surrendering to the Lord as the result of someone asking if a person had something to be praying for.

The case of the UK nurse is certainly problematic, even though the survey data shows that patients are open to prayer for them.  We are thankful for those who serve in the medical profession, and integrating the spiritual into that type of work, in partnership with medical science, can be a powerful combination toward hope and healing.  I believe that physical ailments can have a spiritual or emotional root cause, and an understanding of matters of the spirit can be helpful in the healing process.  Prayer enables the physician to go to the Great Physician to find necessary tools and the power to bring the remedy.