Sickness 667
God delights to forgive our sins and heal our ills. The great
redemptive work of the Lord Jesus includes both forgiveness and
healing. He will permit nothing between us and Him; He wants us to
live by Him as never before. Now is the time to trust and obey Him
totally. The Heavenly Father does not wish to chastise. How willing
He is to heal us that through seeing His love and power we may hold
closer communion with Him.
Sickness and SelfAll evil and adverse environment has the effect of exposing our
true condition. These do not add any particular sin to us; they only
reveal what is in us. Sickness is one of these environments through
which we can read our true condition.
We never realize how much we are living for God and how much
for self until we are sick, especially if that sickness is a protracted
one. During our ordinary days we may declare with great conviction
in our hearts that we will obey God with our whole heart and will be
satisfied with whatever treatment we receive from Him; only at the
time of sickness, though, do we discover how much of that
declaration is genuine. What God wishes to accomplish in His
children is that they be satisfied with His will and way. He does not
want His children to murmur against His will and way because of
their own immature feelings. For this reason God permits sickness to
descend upon His dearest children time and again in order to make
manifest their attitude towards His specially arranged will.
How pitiful is the Christian who for the sake of his own desire
murmurs against God when under trial. He does not accept what God
gives as the best for him; instead his heart is flooded with the desire
for early healing. (What we mean by sickness given by God is in
reality sickness permitted by God, for the one who directly gives
sickness is Satan. But whatever illness befalls a Christian comes
through God’s permission and comes with a purpose. The experience