Sufferiing and Sickness
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
"For what has man for all his labor, and for striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome, even in the night his heart takes no rest."
Sound familiar? I am one to those who lays down at night to rest and my mind keeps going all night, either preaching, or fussing over some problem. But that is life. We are not in Heaven yet. There will still be suffering and sickness, problems and frustrations, because we still live in an evil world with suffering and sickness all around. Remember the admonition of Christ, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt.5:45).
There are some voices which want us to believe that being a good Christian corresponds to good health and strength, and sickness implies disobedience and sin in the camp. Some want to take the passage in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that if we truly repent that God will "heal" all our sicknesses. However that is not what God promises. The passage promises that God will heal our land. The verse before (v.13) reads "When I shut up heaven and there is not rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, If my people will . . . then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land".
Please don't think God does not care about the suffering and sickness of His people. He does very much. But the above passage is talking about healing the land after God's judgment by drought, locust devouring the crops, or pestilence He sent among the people. These are judgments on the sins of the people and if true repentance takes place then God will "forgive their sins and heal their land" by bringing the rains, removing the locusts, and pestilences, and make the land fruitful again.
God does care about our suffering and sicknesses, but when the flu season comes upon us many of us are going to get it too, no matter how faithful a Christian we may be. Can't God heal our sicknesses? Yes indeed! I have witnessed miraculous healing several times in my ministry. Does God heal everyone I pray for? No, but I know He can, and sometimes does when He can get the glory in it. So I keep praying for healing until He tells me not to do so. However we must also hear the prayer of the Apostle Paul, who three times prayed about the "thorn in his flesh" but God did not remove it. Paul calls it "a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure". God told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). God intended to use Paul in his suffering, "that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Are you saying that I should give up and resign myself to "this is how it is going to be?" Absolutely not. You keep praying and have others pray with you, knowing that God can and in His good time may heal you as well. Please remember that Jesus did not heal everyone either. He made choices according to His own will and purpose.