May 31st
Share your thoughts, comments, reflections and questions on the readings for May the 31st
2 Samuel 3:1-4:12,Psalm 68:15-19,Proverbs 14:31-32,John 8:42-9:7
Why are people sick? Why is there sickness and diseases in the world? This is very similar to one of the very common questions that come up on most Alpha courses – why is there suffering in the world? Well that is the same type of question as his disciples asked Jesus in John 9, except their worldview was different to ours.
His disciples asked: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Their worldview was one in which if you were rich and healthy you were blessed by God and if you were poor and ill you were under God’s judgement for sin. So here was a man who had been blind since his birth, their natural conclusion was that either he had sinned, or his parents had sinned and the blindness was a consequence of that sin.
What is your worldview? If you know someone who is sick and seriously ill what is the cause of the illness? Or perhaps you suffer from migraines, asthma, cancer, blindness, hearing loss or some other long term illness or disease. If so what is the cause of your illness? Or maybe you don’t suffer from a long term illness, but from time to time you get ill with flu, or a virus or something else – and it always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, why did you get ill?
Sometimes we jump to conclusions just as Jesus’ disciples did and sometimes we are just as wrong as they are! One worldview is that all illness is caused by the devil. In one sense I believe that is right as everything that is contrary to God’s will and his desire for us has it’s roots in the rebellion of mankind against God that started in the Garden or Eden and was caused by the devil’s temptation of Even & Adam. I hear many Christians saying that they are being attacked by the devil when they are ill, or that the devil is the cause of their illness, or asking for prayers for deliverance from a spirit of sickness or possibly they say when they are ill that the devil is ‘having a go at them.’
However I don’t believe that the devil is the direct cause of sickness and illness suffered by Christians. In this short comment let me suggest two reasons for this view. Firstly as a Christian I am a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). As a temple in which the almighty God resides the devil has absolutely no power, authority or opportunity to afflict me by illness. The holiness of God and the evil of the devil cannot coexist just as lightness and darkness cannot. If we are filled with the light of Christ, even in the imperfect way this side of heaven, then darkness is banished from our lives. The second reason is for me one of logic. If the devil can make me suffer through illness at a time and place of his choosing why does he stop with asthma (which I suffer from) or a migrane? If he could truly affect my life in that way why does he not go the whole way and give me a terminal illness – and every other Christian in the world? I believe the answer is that he doesn’t have the power or authority to inflict a headache on me let alone a terminal illness.
So what is the root if illness and suffering? That is a very, very big question and again I can only give a couple of pointers here. Firstly I believe that sickness entered the world as a result of sin. Not your specific sin, or my specific sin, but as a result of the sin of mankind (see Romans 8). Part of being human in a fallen world is sickness and disease and that can affect anyone at any time. It is not an attack of the devil, and neither is it a sign of God’s lack of love or blessing.
I also believe that some illness is caused by a direct result of our own sin. If we live throughout our lives with bitterness, hostility and hatred towards others that will effect us psychologically and physically. There are times when the route to healing is through forgiveness of others and turning our backs on bitterness.
This is not a full, complete and total answer, but I hope will help you better understand this passage and how we respond to events and illness in our own lives.