Is sickness a blessing?

[notmyown]

There are always reasons for what happens in a Christian's life. If we are obedient, God has promised to meet our needs. I've learned this the hard way. I was not a giver as I feared going without. It took me a long time to realise that I was lacking because I was not giving!

Martyrdom is not sickness. God calls some to give their physical lives as Stephen did. Such people are exceedingly precious to God. They are also overcomers because they are prepared to die for Christ's sake. (Revelation 12)

what a very western way of thinking. this must mean our brothers and sisters under the Soviet regime failed to be obedient. or those under Mao, or those this very day in Cameroon.

i do agree with you; i chose poorly using the word martyrdom. i should have said death. do you know, medically speaking, no one dies of old age? no, it's always some body part or system fails to work properly, which is the very definition of illness. thus, no Christian should die, unless it be by accident or violence?

i am frustrated by inconsistency.

 

[Karlon]

I like the writing of the Rev J R Miller, he imparts much wisdom and clarifies Biblical questions.

However, today I read a section in which he maintains that sickness is a blessing for which we should always be grateful.

I am not sure at all about that! My health of late has not been good and I definitely DO NOT feel it is a blessing. I pray to Jesus for healing and strength and I always feel comfort is given. I want to be well and I believe Jesus heals, He spent His ministry on earth healing people. He wants us to have life abundantly - surely this does not mean suffering?

To me all sickness and disease is bad and frightening. Yes we learn lessons and grow in character by earnest prayer, by leaning on God and trusting Him to heal us. I know many people do live very great productive lives DESPITE awful afflictions. This we may certainly admire and take inspiration from. Certainly we don't learn anything useful during easy good times, adversity is often a time of learning true lessons.

But to call sickness an actual blessing is going too far in my view. Can and should anyone actually welcome illness? I am just not made of such stern stuff!

What evidence is in the Bible to say sickness is a blessing? Do you suffer long-standing illness and do you consider it a blessing?

i don't know directly if sickness IS a blessing according to the Bible but it CAN be. some people's sickness has been the exact event in their lives that turned them away from sin & became Christians. & then there is Romans 8:28: "and we KNOW ALL THINGS work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". & thirdly, sickness is a great opportunity to rationalize one's life: to see where you are in your life mentally, spiritually & physically with the spiritual portion the most important. catholics use to teach or still do teach that sickness is a blessing & that God would send you sickness. well that's nonsense because wishes for everyone to be healed. remember, the Bible saiys, " by who's stripes you were healed". healing has already been established, we just have to claim it. why would God send us sickness if He wants to be healed? doesn't make sense. Americans make themselves sick more than any other nation & sometimes its psychosematically.

 

[Evmur]

Let’s say sickness CAN be a blessing, I would agree to that.

... then death would be the double portion ... bring it on.

Nobody doubts that God will comfort us and help us, will bless us and teach us during times of sickness. That does not make sickness a blessing nor does it mean that God sent it.

This is what folks accuse Calvin of that God causes people to sin so that He can damn them.

We must see God in the face of Jesus our Lord. He said "I came not to do mine own will but the will of My Father" and that will was to heal ALL manner of sickness. He turned nobody away.

He treated sickness as an enemy, how could the Author of life see it any other way? sickness is an enemy right up along side sin.

Until the church sees it as God sees it folk will continue to die for lack of knowledge.

 

[Underwhosewings]

praps we all need a good dose of leprosy then.

... them lepers in the bible did not hold your opinion

Numbers 12:2,10 KJV
And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. [10] And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

praps we all need a good dose of leprosy then.

... them lepers in the bible did not hold your opinion

Truly we don’t know the reason of each individual’s state, but in this case we do…..

Numbers 12:2,10 KJV
And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
Numbers 12:3 KJV
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Numbers 12:8-9 KJV
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
[9] And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

[10] And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

 

[Underwhosewings]

what a very western way of thinking. this must mean our brothers and sisters under the Soviet regime failed to be obedient. or those under Mao, or those this very day in Cameroon.

i do agree with you; i chose poorly using the word martyrdom. i should have said death. do you know, medically speaking, no one dies of old age? no, it's always some body part or system fails to work properly, which is the very definition of illness. thus, no Christian should die, unless it be by accident or violence?

i am frustrated by inconsistency.

Maybe
“Wear and tear”

 

[notmyown]

Maybe
“Wear and tear”

in the vernacular, yes. i was trained in and worked in the medical field for years, though. it's just not a thing, there.
(i had to use capital letters there )

 

[Evmur]

Numbers 12:2,10 KJV
And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. [10] And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

Truly we don’t know the reason of each individual’s state, but in this case we do…..

Numbers 12:2,10 KJV
And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
Numbers 12:3 KJV
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Numbers 12:8-9 KJV
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
[9] And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

[10] And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

Yet people are not afraid to listen to voices that contradict God's word, they develop fancy philosophies and theologies to explain away what God says. They call good evil and evil good, they put bitter for sweet.

They say prosperity is evil and poverty a blessing from God.

God was merciful to Miriam and after 7 days was received again into fellowship.

 

[Underwhosewings]

Yet people are not afraid to listen to voices that contradict God's word, they develop fancy philosophies and theologies to explain away what God says. They call good evil and evil good, they put bitter for sweet.

They say prosperity is evil and poverty a blessing from God.

God was merciful to Miriam and after 7 days was received again into fellowship.

You have reminded me of this….

 

[Evmur]

You have reminded me of this….
View attachment 250262

Well ok

What does it mean "I have Christ"? yes His wonderful, precious person. Hallelujah. If we could now simply lay down and die.

We must learn that we have ALL things in Christ, all that belongs to Him belongs to us too "what things soever we desire"

 

[Evmur]

You have reminded me of this….
View attachment 250262

We are like the prodigal son, we came trudging wearily home expecting no more than to be treated as servants.

But our Father came running to meet us and fell upon our necks weeping for joy that we have returned. For us is the best robe, the ring, the fatted calf and celebrations.

... but there is another brother.

 

[notmyown]

We must learn that we have ALL things in Christ, all that belongs to Him belongs to us too

true, indeed. in the "already; not yet" dynamic, though, we ought have a care we're not demanding (not that i think you demanding, Billy) what's to be ours in the eternal state for the here and now?

the Lord Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom. we'll see its fulfillment when He returns.

 

[Underwhosewings]

Well ok

What does it mean "I have Christ"? yes His wonderful, precious person. Hallelujah. If we could now simply lay down and die.

We must learn that we have ALL things in Christ, all that belongs to Him belongs to us too "what things soever we desire"

The Lord still has need of you on this earth.
Don’t look inwards look out.
When I was helping someone else in the best way I could, God used that to meet my need at that time.

 

[Underwhosewings]

We are like the prodigal son, we came trudging wearily home expecting no more than to be treated as servants.

But our Father came running to meet us and fell upon our necks weeping for joy that we have returned. For us is the best robe, the ring, the fatted calf and celebrations.

... but there is another brother.

For sure that other brother is there,
I know that very well.
And I have learnt
not to allow Satan
who seeks to use that other brother
to walk all over us
Etc etc
We will not fear what man can do.

Psalm 110:2 KJV
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

 

[Underwhosewings]

"what things soever we desire"

1 John 5:14 KJV
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

 

[Evmur]

true, indeed. in the "already; not yet" dynamic, though, we ought have a care we're not demanding (not that i think you demanding, Billy) what's to be ours in the eternal state for the here and now?

the Lord Jesus has inaugurated the Kingdom. we'll see its fulfillment when He returns.

our treasure is in heaven where moth do not spoil or thieves break in to steal. But they are for us now when the Father decides we have need of them.

In the 90s when I was approaching retiring age the devil came and whispered "you have not made provision for your old age" and it was true, I had moved from pillar to post, done an awful lot of job hopping, not signed up to any benefits, I was practically out of the system.

I reminded the devil of the many, many miracles of provision I had received and reminded him that God's promise to care was down to my old age.

I now have a pension, a small annuity + a small supplementary income, I have a nice flat.

God has been good. Praise His name.

 

[memmett]

I don't know where this idea has come from but it is wrong. It's a verse ripped from it's context.
A completed canon is not remotely hinted at as the perfection to come.

The perfection to come is after resurrection when we see God face to face. As is explained in the same passage of scripture.

1 Corinthians 13
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know in part and prophesy in part;

11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known

The remaining question then is why do modern Christians not have the power to heal the sick?

 

[Bob-Carabbio]

What, I wonder, is the purpose of the Book of Job?

To demonstrate the lengths that God will go to, to lead a person to repentance, and get them to realize their spiritual problems. It was "Leviathan" (personal pride), and Behemoth (a tendency to rely on one"s self) that God was after in Job (Job 42:6).

 

[memmett]

... then death would be the double portion ... bring it on.

Nobody doubts that God will comfort us and help us, will bless us and teach us during times of sickness. That does not make sickness a blessing nor does it mean that God sent it.

This is what folks accuse Calvin of that God causes people to sin so that He can damn them.

We must see God in the face of Jesus our Lord. He said "I came not to do mine own will but the will of My Father" and that will was to heal ALL manner of sickness. He turned nobody away.

He treated sickness as an enemy, how could the Author of life see it any other way? sickness is an enemy right up along side sin.

Until the church sees it as God sees it folk will continue to die for lack of knowledge.

Trials such as sicknesses come to all Christians as they grow. If there are those who claim they have no chastening of the Lord then they need to redouble their efforts to check out whether they are truly saved or not.

 

[memmett]

What, I wonder, is the purpose of the Book of Job?

Job was written for our learning, for our understanding, for our encouragement, for our enlightenment, for our growth, for our comfort, and for Job's benefit.

 

[Cameron143]

To demonstrate the lengths that God will go to, to lead a person to repentance, and get them to realize their spiritual problems. It was "Leviathan" (personal pride), and Behemoth (a tendency to rely on one"s self) that God was after in Job (Job 42:6).

I don't deny that any book in scripture will deal with many different subjects, I don't believe sin is the primary teaching of Job.