Before we jump into what Scripture says about health, let’s look quickly at a definition of the word. The English Oxford dictionary tells us that “health is the state of being free from illness or injury.”
I don’t know about you, but I struggle in that department. Alongside chronic physical pain issues, long-lasting mental health problems, and left-over symptoms from the Coronavirus pandemic, you could say that I am lucky that I am not a horse!
However, there are some churches, Christian communities, and people groups who would suggest I am unwell because I have too little faith, I’m not praying for healing, or I am a sinner, and my sickness is the consequence of my own actions.
Let me be abundantly clear from the outset and tell you that those words are not from God, they don’t even align with Scripture. If you are suffering from chronic illnesses such as muscle aches, bone issues, or mental health problems, please know that you are not alone.
There are many, many of us who struggle. In fact, The World Health Organisation (WHO) tells us that 10.7% of the world population was diagnosed with mental health disorders by 2017.
The scary fact in these results is that it only records those who have access to health care to receive a diagnosis. For your own reference, that 10.7% equates to around 792 million people.
Health Is Not Based on Morality
Too often, I have felt like I am alone in my illness. Too often, others haven’t understood it when I have canceled last minute, avoided commitment because I know my body too well, or I have arrived and had to leave early.
Friend, I understand all those awkward moments and having to explain myself just like some of you do.
But what does Jesus say about our health? How does God approach it? When Eden was created, and humans were made in God’s image, how did sickness fit in with that picture?
Firstly, if it is okay with you, I would like to start at the end of the story in Scripture. We read in Revelations 21 a beautiful, hope-filled verse: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
What a hope, believer, one day, for those of us who know Jesus, when we are home in heaven, our pain, our sickness, our trouble, and strife will be no more! What hope to anchor our lives to.
One day this pain will be over, and we will be in perfect, free bodies. No wheelchair to bind us to, no stick to cling on to, no husbands required to be used as walking aids, no straps on our hands, no medicines to remember. Free! That is the hope I hold so tightly onto.
But there is so much more, let’s delve into another story.
If we open our Bibles to John 9, we will find a story of a nameless man who was blind. As Jesus and his disciples walk past, they ask Jesus, “Who sinned, was it the parents or the man that he was born blind?”
Jesus answers them by saying: It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. I know, friend, that hard days come, and sickness can feel like a heavy load to carry.
Blindness in this man’s case would have left him unable to fend for himself but relying every day on others to help him, even with simple tasks. Especially in a middle-eastern culture that believed sickness was a burden and outcast those who were.
But Jesus’ words have always left me with hope, and I hope they give you hope, also. This man’s sickness and vulnerability were not because of sin as the disciples thought, but they were so that the works or the glory of God could be displayed in him. The NLT reads that the power of God may be seen.
Here, in this passage, Jesus removes the idea that sin and sickness are connected in such a way. Of course, we know that death and disease were never to be a part of God’s beautiful design — Genesis 1-2 makes that clear.
God Is More Than Our Sickness and Pain
But Genesis 3 tells us the story of the Fall. Weeds on the earth, death of all creation, and sickness were the result.
Romans 3 reminds us that we are all sinners. If sickness was a direct connection to our sin, then we would all be sick, physically or mentally, and that is not true of us all.
Recently, I have been reading the words of 2 Corinthians 12 often. They connect this passage to the heart of God in my opinion.
These words were written by Paul. He tells us that he has a thorn in his flesh, one that he had prayed and prayed over, but God replied to him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Paul then goes to tell us a truth that I would struggle to word any other way, so I shall quote.
Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (vv. 9-10).
Our strength is not found in the absence of sickness, trial, or despair, but rather our strength is found in the truth that God is present with us even in these times. The heart of God is to be our strength when we are weak.
As Paul declares, God gives us the grace which sustains us and is sufficient for us. It is hiding in misery because, often, those moments are the ones that draw us closer to God.
It is in the moments of despair that most of us cry out to God to help us, and when we draw near to God, James tells us that God draws near to us. As David declares in Psalm 23, even in the valley, God is with us.
It is a testimony in itself to be struggling every day and still get up praising God and following in His steps.
As I finish thinking about this topic with you, let me leave you with words I hold fast to no matter how hard a day I am having. They are found in Psalm 27:
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
What Does This Mean?
Friend, wake up every day and look for the goodness of God, wait for the Lord and take heart, He is not a God who is far off playing the childhood game of hide-and-seek, but rather He yearns to be found by you, and is often just waiting on you to turn your gaze from your circumstances to your savior.
There you will find all you need to sustain you and get you through each day, held in the master’s hand, and you too can find the goodness of God even in ill health because where God is, there is always goodness.
For further reading:
What Should Christians Know about Divine Healing?
Should We Lay Hands on the Sick in Healing?
Why Doesn’t God Heal Everyone?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/udra
