Biblical Perspective TowardsIllness

Recently a number of us have been ill. Some of our children havebeen sick for weeks. Many of us have been afflicted with cold and flu. My wifehas been coughing for almost a month now. One night she coughed so badly that Ithought she was going to rupture her lungs, and I was prepared to send her tothe hospital.

What should our attitude be towards sicknesses? Years ago, I knewa young lady who had just joined a Charismatic Church. She told me thatshe had just learned some new and wonderful doctrine that her frequentheadaches was probably due to the sin of one of her ancestors, perhaps hergrandmother. Other Charismatic preachers have declared that all sicknesses arefrom Satan, and so we must rebuke our sicknesses just as we should rebukeSatan! And if you do so in faith, you must have faith to believe that you arealready healed, though sometimes Satan would not allow the symptoms to go away!Are these indeed discoveries of scriptural truth? One conservative local author,who is much respected by many, taught that our illnesses are because of ourpersonal sin and that if we do not sin, we will not fall sick. Is that correct?What are the causes of sin? A respected Christian doctor surmised whether weshould pray with regards to healing when we fall ill. Does God answer suchprayer? What should our response be when we fall ill?

Causes

There is no doubt that God does sometimes chastise His people withsicknesses on account of their disobedience. Prior to his death, Moses pronouncedblessings and curses upon Israelwhich would be occasioned by the obedience or disobedience to the Word of God.Part of the curses involved physical illnesses: "The Lord shall smite theewith a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with anextreme burning, … with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with thescab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed … with madness, andblindness, and astonishment of heart …" (Deut 28:22, 27–28). Notice how thesecurses were given with the singular second person pronouns (‘thee’ and ‘thou’).This suggests that chastisement will come upon individuals for their individualsins. Numerous instances in the Scripture testify to this truth. Numberschapter 16 records a tragic event in which 14,700 persons were struck dead by aplague because they were part of an assembly of people who had protestedagainst Moses and Aaron for the divine execution of the sons and supporters ofKorah who had rebelled against their authority. Gehazi was struck with leprosyfor his covetousness (2 Kgs 5:27); King Uzziah similarly, for his pride (2 Chr26:16–19). King David certainly believed this principle to be true. Psalm 38was written under inspiration by him at a time of illness: "For my loinsare filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in myflesh" (Ps 38:7). It is clear that he believed the illness was part ofGod’s chastisement for his sin, for he prayed: "O Lord, rebuke me not inthy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. … I will declare mineiniquity; I will be sorry for my sin" (Ps 38:1, 18).

The principle is the same in the New Testament. Herod Agrippa waseaten by worms and died because "he gave not God the glory" (Acts12:21–23). The Apostle Paul speaks of illness in the church on account ofunworthy partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:29–30). James recognises thatsin could be a cause of sickness (Jas 5:14).

However, we must be careful to realise that personal actual sin(in distinction to original sin) is not always the cause of our illness.

Firstly, God sometimes inflicts illness upon the whole congregation ofpeople for the sins of individuals. 70,000 men from Dan to Beersheba died of aplague on account of David’s sin of counting the number of fighting men hecould draft for his army (2 Sam 24; 1 Chr 21).

Secondly, the Scriptures tell us clearly that in certain cases, illnessesmay not be due to personal sin at all. The case of Job is a clear example. Oneafter another, his friends insinuated that it must be sin that has broughtabout all his troubles. Job did not deny that it could be sin that God waschastising him for, but searching his heart with all integrity, he simply couldnot identify any possible sin which might have brought him the afflictions. Heasked the Lord: "How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know mytransgression and my sin" (Job 13:23). We note that when the Lord finallyresponded to Job, He did not indict Job with any particular sin. In the NewTestament, we again have the same doctrine that not all illnesses are due tosin. Lazarus was sick unto death that the Son of God might be glorified (Jn11:4) when he was raised from the dead. When the disciples of the Lord askedhim whose sin was the case of the blindness of the man born blind, He replied:"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of Godshould be made manifest in him" (Jn 9:3).

Thirdly, it is true that some illnesses are demonically induced. Job’swoes were certainly induced by Satan (Job 1:12). The Lord described the hunchedback woman whom He healed on the Sabbath as one "whom Satan hathbound" (Lk 13:16). The Apostle Paul appears to be talking about somephysical infirmity when he referred to the "thorn in the flesh, themessenger of Satan to buffet" him (2 Cor 12:7).

Our Response

In view of all these, what should our response be when a fellowbeliever or we fall ill?

Firstly, I believe, we must begin by viewing our illness in the properperspective. Noting that sin is the original cause of illnesses, and thatpersonal, particular sin could also bring about God’s chastisement in the formof illness, we should begin like Job (see v. 13:23) to search our hearts and toask the Lord to remind us or to bring to our consciousness any particular sinswhich we may not have repented of. If the Lord should convict us of any sin, weshould seek His forgiveness as David did, before asking for deliverance (Ps38:22). Now, I say this as a personal guideline, let us bear in mind that notall illnesses is due to particular sin, and therefore, let us not commit thesame sin as Job’s friends by discouraging or tormenting a brother or sister inChrist by insisting that it is some particular sin that has brought about theillness.

Secondly, we should not be afraid to ask the church to pray with usespecially if the illness is a prolonged or debilitating one. James instructsus "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; andlet them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord"(Jas 5:14). We must be careful not to misapply this verse. One way ofmisapplying it is to telephone our elders the minute we detect a sniffle or acough coming up. But this is not what James teaches us. In the first place, wemust note that James uses a very specific Greek word which is translated ‘sick’in our version. The word is (astheneô) which means, "to be weak,feeble or powerless." In John 5, the word is translated ‘impotent’ (vv. 3,7). James would not have describe someone who could have a flu with this word.He would probably have used (kakôs; e.g., Matt 9:12) instead. In thesecond place, the word translated ‘call’ (proskaleoma) means"summon or call for." In the third place, that the elders are to pray"over him" suggests that the sick is lying down on the bed. In otherwords, this instruction of James has to do with those who are very ill orbedridden, and cannot come to church. In which case they should call for theelders to visit that they may pray for them. Another way of misapplying James5:14 is to have elders bringing flasks of olive oil when doing hospitalvisitation. This leads us to our thirdguideline,and that is: we should avail ourselves to practical and medical help and notjust to prayer. You see, the James is very specific when he says"anointing … with oil." In the first place, there are two commonGreek verbs that can be used to describe the application of oil. The first wordis (chriô; e.g., Heb 1:9). This word refers to a religious anointing andthe word from which ‘Christ’ is derived. The second word is (aleiphô).This word does not usually have a religious connotation. In fact, it can betranslated with a simple ‘rub.’ We would use this word to speak about theapplication of ‘tiger balm’ on our tummy for stomach ache. The word that Jamesuses is the second word: (aleiphô). He is not instituting a newordinance as practised by some evangelists. A further confirmation of thisinterpretation is that the word rendered ‘oil,’ literally means ‘olive oil’.Olive oil was used as a common household remedy in those days. In the Lord’sparable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan pour olive oil and wine upon thewound of the man who was robbed. We must not despise use of ordinary means forhealing, though we ought to pray. Not only does James command it, the Lordpractised it (Mk 6:13). Certainly, the Lord healed supernaturally, and Heneeded not the help of ointments, but I believe He used them nevertheless toteach us that we should avail ourselves to the means. So, beloved, by all meanssee a doctor and take the medicine faithfully.

However, fourthly,we must not swing to the other extreme by thinking that God will only healthrough natural means. After James instructs us to pray and to use the means,he continues: "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lordshall raise him up" (Jas 5:15a). In other words, pray believing (Jas 1:6).Believe that God can heal and that He can heal with or without the ordinarymeans. Indeed, the fact that James went on to talk about the prayer of Elijah(v. 17 ff) suggests that he would have us pray, believing that God canintervene supernaturally. We may learn from here that we must not restrictourselves to praying that the doctor will have wisdom, that the surgeon’s handswill be guided, that the medicine will be effective, etc. We should rather praythat the Lord will heal and restore (Ps 103:3), bearing in mind that nothing isimpossible with Him (Matt 19:26; cf. Matt 17:20). Yes, it is right and properto pray "Thy will be done" even at this stage, but we must never prayin this way because of a fatalistic attitude that our prayer does not matter atall. We are commanded to pray and we are to pray, believing that God does hearand answers our prayers.

But what if God chooses not to answer our prayers according to ourdesire? What if we have been praying earnestly for someone who has beenafflicted with cancer that the Lord will heal, but a time comes when it becomesquite certain from all appearance that death is inevitable? What if we havebeen praying for a young baby who has been afflicted by high fever that theLord would heal, but the Lord does not answer according to our hearts desire,and eventually the doctors pronounced that her brain is permanently damaged?Then, fifthly, I believewe should submit to the Lord’s will and change the focus of our prayers. TheApostle Paul prayed three times that the Lord would remove the thorn in hisflesh, but when it became clear that the Lord would not answer as he desired,we do not hear of him persisting to pray for healing. David persisted to prayfor his new-born child until the Lord would not answer as he desired (2 Sam12:22–23). Of course, in David’s case, the Lord’s will was very clear; and inPaul’s case the Lord’s will was made known to him (2 Cor 12:9); so they ceasedto pray. In the two cases we cited, however, we know that despite medicalpronouncement, the Lord could still work a miracle. So, my suggestion is thatwe do not cease to pray, but that our focus should now be different. For theman suffering from cancer, we may, for example, pray: "Lord, we haveprayed that Thou heal Tom, but it does appear to us that it is not Thy will torestore him until the Resurrection, so Lord, while we know and desire that Thoumay work a miracle, we pray now that Thou may prepare Tom to meet Thee hisCreator. May Thou ease his discomfort and grant him faith and peace in Christ.May thou also comfort his dear wife with Thy everlasting arms …." We maypray similarly for the child: "Lord, we are sadden to hear from thedoctors that little Jane has suffered permanent brain damage. We know thatnothing is impossible with Thee, and we do plead that Thou may heal. Yet, if itbe Thy will that she should remain in this condition, we do pray that Thou maygrant her Thy grace of salvation; and that Thou may comfort her parents andgrant them strength and wisdom to look after her in the days ahead …."

Sixthly, God has His purpose in every illness which He brings us through.It may be to chastise us for our sin; it may be to cause us to learn to dependon Him more; it may be that we may rest our weary bodies; it may be to bringglory to the Name of God in one way or another. Naaman the Syrian general wasinflicted with leprosy, no doubt to bring him to the foot of the Cross; Paulwas afflicted that He might be kept humble and that he know the sufficiency ofChrist (2 Cor 12:7, 9); Lazarus and the man born blind were afflicted that thepower of God might be manifested. Such being the case, it would also be needfulfor us to ask the Lord for wisdom (Jas 1:5) that we may understand the purposeof our illness, that we may best benefit from it for the sanctification of oursoul. Also, knowing that all things work together for good to them that loveChrist, we must not forget to thank God for the trials He brings us through (1Thes 5:18; Jas 1:2).

Finally, we must note that although Scripture does speak aboutsatanically induced illnesses, the cases are exceedingly rare; and moreover, weare not given an instruction or warrant for special treatment or rituals evenif we can determine that the cause of our illness is indeed demonicallyinduced. Job was blissfully ignorant about the cause of his troubles, andsimply committed himself to the Lord. This must also be our attitude.

Conclusion

The Word of God has given us clear guidelines on what our attitudeand response to illnesses should be. Let us not take a fatalistic attitudetowards our illnesses. God is not only concerned with our souls, but our bodiesas well (Ps 103:3). On the other hand, we must not adopt an unbiblical attitudetowards illnesses, such as those of the Charismatic faith healers and those whoascribe all illnesses to particular personal sins. Let us manage our illnessesbiblically—with prayer and using the available medical means.