Sickness

THIS WEEK on Wednesday morning my room mate Sarah woke up very sick. She was exhausted and had chest pains, and she stayed in bed for the entire morning.

I tried to take care of her as much as I could, but I really just had an unusually strong urge to pray for her. So I did. I prayed while I made some food, and I prayed while I was leaving the room for class. I prayed with my friend Shannon when we had lunch together, and I prayed when I was coming back from lunch. I was praying she would feel better soon and be able to have a good afternoon.

When I got back to the room Sarah was wide awake and on her feet. She had eaten some food and was ready for her afternoon. It was an amazing change: she could hardly move at the beginning of the day, but by the end she was driving a car to Bible Study and shopping in Walmart, feeling just fine. She made it to her club meeting and got the chance to enjoy the perfect fall weather. I'm still thanking God for that.

I think it's really something that God cares when people get sick. Sickness is just another kind of brokenness, a form of vulnerability that reminds us of how limited we are. One of the greatest scientists alive today, Stephen Hawking, suffers from a paralyzing motor neurone disease and speaks with the use of a computer program connected to his wheelchair. In the perfect world God created, before sin introduced suffering, there was never going to be any sickness. There won't be any sickness in heaven. But since it's here, God can use it to teach us about many things.

On Wednesday I learned from Sarah's brief sickness about the power of prayer. In James 5:13-15 James writes: "[13] Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. [14] Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. [15] And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

It's wonderful that God answers our prayers for each other. He still performs the same miracles we read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John when His followers are praying with faith. It's true that sometimes a really sick person won't make it, but think - maybe that's God's way of raising him up.

Sickness can also teach us about peace. The day after Sarah was sick, my grandma had a surgery to treat her breast cancer. It's a real blessing that it was caught very early on, but the treatment was still not fun at all.

I call my grandma a couple times a week. Leading up to this treatment she has been tellign me about the peace she has about it. She is a worrier, so it's unusual that she would have such peace about something like this. But she says it's because God is helping her not to worry.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), an amazing contentedness that comes from trusting God to be able to control any situation. I get it too: I find I don't have to focus on trying to get peace from Jesus, because He is alread ywalking me through the things that are troubling to be. My grandma's peace is spilling out onto everybody else as she goes through this. It's a concerning and unpleasant situation, but we aren't panicking because God says that everything is going to be okay. If nobody can ever take us from His hand, and if He is our helper, whom shall we fear?

God hates sickness and pain and all other sorts of evil, but He loves to turn them into good things. The most wonderful way I've seen Him use them is to show His power to save.

Last night I read Isaiah 53 (which I would recommend highly to every atheist out there) which was written about Jesus centuries before He entered the world. In Isaiah 53:4 the prophet writes, "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted." God not only cares about our suffering but He gave His life to free us from it. Peopel still get sick, but we have eternal life in Him, so our souls are well.

God won't be stopped from turning things back to how they were always supposed to be.

Revelation 21:4-5 declares, "[4] 'And God will wipe away every tears 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.' [5] Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'"

The world has got cancer, but the Great Physician says that everything is going to be okay.