I am writing this while recovering from Shingles. I don’t recommend Shingles. It’s painful. I have been prescribed five anti-viral pills a day, plus some strong pain killers, for which I am very grateful. Illness can strike any one of us of course, but is there a Christian perspective on illness?
1 Christians get ill
At the risk of stating the obvious, Christians get ill. Whilst we are guaranteed perfect health in the life to come, we are not guaranteed it in the present world, for this world is fallen and imperfect. Sin has affected us totally – spiritually, morally and physically. Christians, although redeemed in soul, are yet part of this fallen world. So we get sick. ‘Epaphroditus … was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him’ (Colossians 2:27). Timothy, we are told, suffered from ‘frequent ailments’ (1 Timothy 5:23). Then in 2 Timothy 4:20 Paul writes ‘Trophimus I left ill at Miletus.’ So Christians are not immune from illness. Illness is not something we want, but it is something we should expect from time to time.
2 The Providence of God
Christians are encouraged to view whatever happens to them as coming from the hand of God Himself – including days of sickness – for God rules the universe by His providence. And His providence is all-embracing:-
‘God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions’ (Shorter Catechism).
If we believe in the God revealed in the Bible, we will believe that nothing happens ‘by chance’, but that everything has been prearranged according to God’s perfect plan. ‘For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things’ (Romans 11:36). Who are we to order the Almighty as to how He should govern our lives? ‘Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’ (Job 2:10). Then there is Romans 8:28. The words are familiar to most Christians, but they take on a new reality during a time of difficulty and trial: ‘We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.’ The ‘everything’ here is all-encompassing. It includes our steps and our stops. It includes days of good health, and it includes days of ill health. Nothing lies outside of God’s sovereignty. ‘The LORD has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all’ (Psalm 103:19).
- Blessing from buffeting?
Whilst we don’t welcome illness, with Romans 8:28 in mind, we can surely expect blessing from times of illness. Psalm 119:71 reads ‘It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Thy statues.’ But what are the blessings of illness?
Illness forces us to slow down and stop. In Psalm 46:10 God says ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ It is easy to get carried along on the merry-go-round of day to day living – working, commuting, shopping, leisure, emails etc – that the temporal drowns the eternal. Illness forces us to be quiet. Illness brings us to a halt. It is therefore the ideal time to regain an eternal perspective and seek the presence of the God who is the fount of every blessing. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’
Illness teaches us lessons in human sympathy. If we were never ill, we would be in danger of thinking that everyone else should be as fit and strong as we are, and able to cope with our schedule! Illness though brings us down to earth. The Lord Jesus was characterised by sympathy and compassion for others. Illness may thus be sanctified to us, making us more like our Saviour.
Illness reminds us of our human weakness and total dependence on God. We are not self sufficient. Only God is. He is ‘the God in whose hand is your breath’ (Daniel 5:23). ‘In Him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). It is good – if not always pleasant – to have the pride knocked out of us, and humble ourselves before God, telling Him of our dependence on both His saving and sustaining grace.
3 The best is yet to be
Times of illness wean us off the passing things of earth which can clutter up our lives and hinder our walk with God. Illness prevents our getting too comfortable in this world, and makes us long for the age to come promised in God’s Word. ‘The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Romans 8:18).
Illness is a reminder that even the best Christian is not fully saved! We are saved in soul by the redeeming work of Jesus, but we are not saved in body. Illness, one day, will certainly be no more for the believer, but this full salvation will not be known until Jesus comes again, bringing in the new heavens and the new earth, and raising His people to immortality, in glorified, resurrection bodies. Perfect blessing and bliss will be known only then. Then only will we be able to serve God free from all that hinders and handicaps us now. Then will Isaiah 33:24 be fulfilled: ‘No inhabitant will say ‘I am sick’; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.’
So Christian, take heart! Whatever your circumstances, God is in control. His grace is sufficient, and His grace will yet prove all sufficient for every one of His children.
© Timothy Cross, 2016
Image credit, http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
