Why There Is Sickness

Why There Is Sickness

 

“And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.  And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” – Matthew 8:2-4

God is able to heal all diseases, as was Jesus when he walked on this earth according to Matthew 4:24 and Psalms 103:3.  The Creator of our Bodies, who is ALMIGHTY God, has power above all powers.  Healing is most definitely at his beacon call.  But that knowledge often raises the question, “Why is there so much sickness in the world?” 

In Matthew 8, a leper came to Jesus.  The Leper knew something that I was once taught wrongly.  The leper that came worshipping Jesus first, and asked, “if you are willing”, to which Jesus replied “I am willing”.  God, in this case in the form of Jesus, has to be willing to heal.  I was once taught that God is always willing to heal, and that God does not give diseases to His children.  But the simple fact is yes, He does give diseases, and though He is willing to heal, the method He chooses to heal, and the timing, and the amount of suffering we endure, are all His choice.

In Numbers 12:10 He gave this very same disease of leprosy to Miriam, Moses sister, as punishment.  In Acts 9, Saul was blinded for three days. James 5:14-16 links healing to the confession of sin saying, “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. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. AND IF HE HAS COMMITTED SINS, HE WILL BE FORGIVEN. Therefore, CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.^”

In other cases, such as that of the blind man in John 9:1-3, it’s not because of sin, “but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”  In Exodus 10:14 God even says to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” God desired to use Moses in his imperfect state to speak to His people and to Pharaoh.  He had made Moses with his speech lacking for His purpose.

Another reason people endure sickness is because we, as the Body of Christ, allow it.  In Matthew 10:8 we are told to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” As we have just read, James 5:14-16 even gives the steps to follow to heal by faith.  But few churches practice the faith of healing, and I cannot think of one I’ve ever seen where the dead are raised and demons cast out.  The fact is most of us cannot believe Christ for the power of healing our diseases through faith. Yet, 1 Peter 2:24 tells us that this is one of the benefits Christ offers the Body of Christ through His death, saying “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

God is always willing to give healing, just as he is willing to forgive our sins.  But healing from God comes in three different ways: through medical science, through miracle healing, and through death.  It is appointed unto man once to die.  When this appointed time comes, God chooses death every time.  We can postpone it through prayers, and healing through faith, but the bottom line is He is God, and we are not. 

(This is a tough subject for me because I haven’t been taught a lot, and as I study more, I see I’ve been misled on the subject quite a few times.  I’d love to hear what everyone else believes about healing and sickness.)