In healing God defeats to enemies of his kingdom. David Goneau preached a sermon from Judges 7 that illustrates this point. You can listen to it here (link at top right). The reason God has Gideon defeat the Midianites with only 300 men is to fight the evil that was overtaking Israel. While it is easy to see that the oppressors were evil, David points out that God is also fighting against Israel’s unbelief. He wins the battle for Israel in such a way as to engender trust and belief–loyalty.
David goes on to say that the tougher battle for God is not the evil oppressor (they disappear from history) but the repetitive habits towards idolatry and unbelief. Fighting disloyalty in order to win the hearts of his people is the major cyclical theme in Judges and in the whole Bible. David ended his sermon with the reminder that God uses another “absurd strategy” to end this cycle–that of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
I make a similar point in a paper on a biblical theology of inner healing coming out in a special issue of the Journal of Psychology and Christianity. All of God’s healing activity in the bible, including that of Jesus’ healings, have the near goal of ending suffering but the ultimate goal of healing disloyal hearts by showing us his power. We get caught up with the amazing power of the miracles but do we see them first and foremost as God showing us his Kingdom power?
Musings on Faith and Psychology 