Why do good people get sick and die?
An unusual number of people in our church family have struggled over the past year with serious health issues and recently two members of our congregation have died. What does the Bible teach us about sickness and disease?
Suffering is part of the human experience, we cannot escape that, it is one of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against in the Garden of Eden. All of creation was corrupted by the Sin that came into the world but God’s promises give hope to a world that faces sickness and death every day.
Since The Fall, all Creation has been subjected to the curse of suffering but the time of God’s deliverance and redemption is coming.
Throughout all of human history, from Adam and Eve until now, the whole earth and everything that lives on it has lived with the consequences of sin but we live with God’s promise of deliverance and redemption and that gives us hope to see our struggles in perspective.
“For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” (Romans 8:19-21).
Through Jesus’ suffering and death, we can experience a taste of the healing that is coming, but meanwhile, God uses suffering for the good of His People. Jesus’ death and resurrection provides the power for our healing from the power of sin and being transformed into the children of God. That gives us a taste of what is to come.
“We have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us.” (Romans 8:23-24).
So, with the Help of the Holy Spirit we continue to pray for God’s healing power and sustaining grace, and trust in His goodness and mercy.
“The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. .. . The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words . . . The Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Romans 8:26-28).
Where does that leave us? We live in the hope of God’s promise of forgiveness from sin now and complete healing in eternity.
“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.” (Romans 8:18).