‘Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News’ – Galatians 4:13 (NLT)
Earlier this year I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease and to say it has been tough is an understatement. I have bouts of chronic pain in different parts of my body and poor vision at times, all due to my nerves being inflamed. Unfortunately as it is a rare disease the doctors don’t know much about it and claim it’s incurable and have put me on medication which tends to be more likely to give me horrible side effects than much help. It would be easy for me to share about this illness once I am fully healed and restored, but sometimes it’s important for us to share our trials with one another whilst we are in them, for even in the trials God is at work. We hear lots of televangelists proclaiming that once you accept Christ, life will be easy—no trials, no pain and no sickness. However, you only need to read the Bible to see this was not the case for many saints.
I was recently challenged by the verse which I started this blog post with. My first thought was, ‘Wow, the apostle Paul was sick?!’ It’s not something which is often preached or spoken about. It was nice to know that I wasn’t alone. Secondly I thought, ‘Wow, even in the midst of his sickness he still preached the gospel!’. This was a challenge to me because in the midst of all my pain and illness, spreading the gospel is the last thing on my mind. Illness’ of various degrees can often cause us to be naval gazers. Most of what is on our minds is ourselves, our sickness and pain; however I don’t believe that this is the life God has called us to. Jesus tells us that we are to ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,’ (Matthew 6:33a). Our reality as Christians should be about His kingdom’s business and living right before Him. Now I know that some illnesses can leave people bed/hospital-bound, but even when one isn’t able to move for a period of time we can still be about the kingdom’s business. It may look different for each one of us and it probably won’t be easy, but know that there is a purpose to each day we live and it is so much bigger than us.
Illnesses can bring such a weight, but it’s a weight that God Himself can help us to bear. In the Word we have promises that God is able to sustain His saints even in the midst of sickness. The word ‘sustain’ means to support or strengthen physically or mentally. Wow! God promises to strengthen and support us in the midst of illness.
‘The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.’- Psalm 41:13
‘The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?’- Proverbs 18:14
Now some may be reading this and believe that I don’t believe in God’s ability to heal but that is not true. I believe that God can and does heal, and I am still praying for God to heal me of this disease. But I am learning that God doesn’t always heal everyone, and when He does heal, it could happen instantly or it might take a while. God’s ways our not our own; I personally wouldn’t want anyone to ever be ill or experience pain. While we hope for such on earth, rarely does anyone experience the mercy to be free from health issues. However, did you know that for every believer, there will come a time of such freedom?
When describing heaven, a loud voice proclaimed: ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ – Revelation 21:4
Ah my eyes are full of tears thinking about the blessed hope we as believers have! No more pain, no more death or sorrow. It truly will be bliss! Life will finally be the way that God intended for us, not the way sin and death have caused our existence to be. We all want to experience heaven on earth, but though we may get glimpses here we won’t get the full experience of heaven until we are fully there.
‘For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.’ – Romans 8:22-25
Our bodies will be redeemed, this is our hope. Let’s eagerly wait for this hope believers; this is not our end. In fact this life is so short compared to eternity:
‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I am in this daily fight with you, lets not lose heart. Don’t despair despite whatever you may be facing. Seek His kingdom, ask for His help. Even in the midst of pain we can have hope and we can have purpose.
