Articles
Coping with Life 3: Sickness 2
Coping with Life 3: Sickness 2
By Mike Willis
David wrote, “The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health” (Psa. 41:3). The Lord sustains people who are sick and gives many people full recovery. Think of all the illnesses we have recovered from in our lifetime before our day of death arrives. We should be thankful to the God who sustains us.
Sickness reminds us of one of his own mortality, making him realize what is of greater and lesser importance in life, and this is a positive good. It causes one to realize how good life had been before the illness came; before our sickness, we had just taken that for granted and did not fully appreciate our good health and thank God for it. Paul wrote about the comfort he experienced from the Lord in his time of need: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
Sickness drives us to our knees before the throne of God, to ask Him to be merciful to us. Sometimes, his response to one of us is the same as it was to the Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). When that moment comes for each us, and it will come, let us accept it with the same grace as Paul did: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG” (2 Cor. 12:10). We never pray so fervently as we do when we are pleading with God for help in a day of need: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psa. 23:4).
Turn to God for salvation! Turn to God for strength to endure what is before you! Turn to God to ask Him to bring you through these difficult times of your life! God’s promise to King Solomon will give you hope: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. IF YOU SEEK HIM, HE WILL BE FOUND BY YOU, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever” (1 Chron. 28:9).
