God's Heart For Healing (eBook)

CHAPTER 1:
Sickness 101

Question 1: What is sickness?

Before we can understand the impact of sickness on our lives, we must first define what it is. Sickness is a state of being that encompasses illness, disease, and physical impairment. Sickness can manifest in a variety of ways, from common cold to life-threatening conditions. It can impact every aspect of our lives, from our physical health to our mental and emotional well-being.

But what causes sickness? Is it simply a result of our environment, genetics, or something more? As we’ll discover in this book, sickness is a complex issue that can have both physical and spiritual roots. Our bodies are intricately connected to our souls, and the state of one can greatly impact the other.

Question 2: Where did sickness come from?

To understand where sickness came from, we have to go back to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1, we find a summary statement of God’s original creation.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, ESV)

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31, ESV)

Everything was very good. It was a perfect creation. So, if everything was very good, was there any sickness in the world? No. Was there any death? No. Any cancer or genetic mutations? No. When God first spoke in Genesis 1:3, He spoke a perfect creation into being. There was no cancer, sickness, death, or suffering. That was His original design. It was perfect. In the very next chapter, we see a command given to the first humans, which, if disobeyed, would change everything.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15–17, ESV)

This is the first time we hear of something negative in the creation story. God said that if Adam chose to disobey this command, his rebellion would bring something awful into the world: sin and death. Sin would act like a virus; it would get inside Adam and rewire him. And it wouldn’t just affect him, it would affect all of creation.

In Genesis 3:6, we read that Adam and Eve did, in fact, eat from the forbidden tree, and immediately, their rebellion corrupted them. They were instantly overwhelmed with shame and regret. Pain, curse, agony, and death were now present in the world. They weren’t present in God’s original creation. They were brought in because Adam and Eve chose to rebel.

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17–19, ESV)

I know that sickness and pain can be difficult to understand and even harder to accept. But I take comfort in knowing that God never intended for us to suffer. He created a perfect world, and it was our disobedience that changed it. But God is gracious. He is good and His love endures forever. I’m eternally grateful that He didn’t walk away and leave us in our mess. He chose to rescue us and, through Jesus Christ, He will bring healing to all of creation.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14, ESV)

Question 3: Why do we get sick?

The answer is simple: we get sick because we are sinners and we live in a sin-cursed world. This is the consequence of Adam’s rebellion in the garden. Sin entered the world through Adam, and with it came death, sickness, and suffering.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. (Romans 5:12, ESV)

The effects of sin are far-reaching and have corrupted every aspect of our lives, including our physical bodies. Sin has corrupted our genes and every single cell in our bodies so that when two sinners come together to have children, they are by nature sinners too. Romans 8:20–22 further emphasizes the effects of sin on the whole created world. The world is suffering, and even the creation is, in a way, groaning under the weight of sin.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:20–22, ESV)

As long as sin remain in our bodies, we will be susceptible to sickness, suffering, and death. It is the natural result of living in a sin-cursed world. While we may not be able to escape sickness and suffering in this life, there is hope in Christ.

Question 4: Is sickness a friend or an enemy?

In the Bible, sickness is always portrayed as something bad, associated with sin, disobedience, and judgment. Although not always a product of sin, disobedience, or judgment, sickness is always associated with them. On the other hand, healing is always portrayed as something good, associated with divine favor and blessing. When we pray for a couple that’s getting married, we don’t ask the Lord to give them a life of sickness and hardships. Instead, we pray for health and blessings to follow them all the days of their life, because intuitively we know that sickness is bad, and health is good.

Oral Roberts, a famous camp preacher from the 1950s, often said, “God is a good God, and the devil is a bad devil.” This simple statement is still a needed reminder for today. Sickness is bad, and healing is good. Now, you might say, “But, so much good came out of my sickness. How can I call it bad?” To that I say, just because something good came out of a sickness, it does not mean that we should recategorize it as good. To do so is a category error.

To further cement this thought, consider the covenant of blessings and curses that Israel lived under in the Old Testament. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord promised that if Israel was faithful to Him, they would be blessed above all people. And what would that blessing look like? He promised fertile wombs for the women and the absence of sicknesses and diseases in the nation at large.

And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you. (Deuteronomy 7:12–15, ESV)

Conversely, if Israel was disobedient and rebellious, they would invoke the curses of the Lord onto themselves. Among these curses were various sicknesses and diseases.

If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. (Deuteronomy 28:58–60, ESV)

Remember, sickness is an enemy to be resisted, not a friend to be embraced. At its core, it is a product of man’s sin and disobedience. Healing, on the other hand, is always portrayed as something good. It’s associated with divine favor and blessing. So, let us embrace health and resist sickness.

Question 5: Will there ever be a time when
sin and sickness are absent from our lives?

Yes! Yes! Ten thousand times yes! In heaven, there is no sin or sickness. And in the eternal kingdom of God, there will be no sin or sickness forever. God created us sinless and sickless, and one day, He will make all who believe in Jesus sinless and sickless forever. In the resurrection, we will experience life the way God originally intended. Let’s look at this promise in the book of Revelation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more....