Psalm 6
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?
I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.
Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
Some believers, often with the “help” of well-meaning friends, equate illness or infirmity with discipline. They’re encouraged to believe that the Lord caused their illness; either some sin of theirs displeased Him and He’s punishing them, or He’s made them sick to teach them some “godly” lesson. It’s a hold over from the notion that we have to earn our position before God and it runs contrary to Scripture.
But some are ill as a consequence of their lifestyle. Attributing their illness to God helps them avoid having to accept responsibility for their actions. They’re trying to beat the cause and effect rule. Others subconsciously enjoy the attention their illness brings. They’re afraid if they weren’t ill, people would ignore them altogether, and that’s worse than being sick. But for most it’s just because illness came into the world with sin and is therefore a part of our existence. It strikes the faithful and the unfaithful without prejudice, just as prosperity blesses both the good and the evil.
This randomness is Satan’s way of making people blame God for the bad things that happen in their lives. It works because somewhere along the way we were taught that we could earn God’s protection through our righteousness. Even though only one righteous man has ever walked among us, we somehow think that with proper behavior we can rise above our human condition and avoid the evil that abounds in this world by earning God’s favor. Then we’re devastated when something bad happens, and like Job we cry out to God, “Why me?”
We never learned that it isn’t our righteousness that protects us, it’s God’s grace. Instead of blaming Him when bad things happen, thereby adding rebellion to our sin of self-righteousness, we should praise Him when they don’t.
After all, this world is a dark and evil place, currently under the control of God’s sworn enemy. (1 John 5:19) When we align ourselves with God we become aliens behind enemy lines. It’s only by His grace that we aren’t all stricken with devastating illness immediately. We think good health is a natural thing simply because we experience a lot more of it. But with all the poison in our air and food, and with the life styles we “enjoy” it’s a miracle we’re healthy at all.
The Bible commands us to pray for each other for healing (James 5:14-16), and the Lord describes Himself as “The God Who Heals You.” (Exodus 15:26) But it also commands us to praise Him for the blessings we receive, which even in the combat zone of our lives vastly outnumber our infirmities.
As our Lord explained to His disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart for I have overcome the world.” ( John 16:33) For some believers that promise comes true with immediate healing from illness. For others it comes true in the grace to endure until the healing comes. And for still others it comes in the form of that perfect cure, death.
I’ve always been impressed with the response a friend of mine gave to an employee who had just asked, “What’s the worst that could happen?” My friend was explaining that he’d just been diagnosed with colon cancer and would be absent from work for a while. “The worst that could happen,” he said, “Is that the treatment I’m beginning could cure me.”
Here was a multi-millionaire real estate developer with every privilege and creature comfort money could buy, but he understood how quickly all that would fade into insignificance when compared with what our Lord has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). Think about that and praise the Lord for all he has done, is doing and has promised yet to do.
