us physically turn out to be the very best for us spiritually. As a chaplain I see this time and time again. The physical is temporal. The spiritual is eternal. Weigh them out and the eternal will win every time. (See II Corinthians 4:16-18). Therefore, whatever reason(s) God has for allowing suffering, it comes from a heart of love and goodness (Psalm 73:21-26). Even his judgments are a form of his mercy. According to the creation account inGenesis: sin, sickness and painwere not part of God’s original plan. They came as the result of man’s sin and rebellion. God is just when he punishes. God honored Adam and Eve by giving them free will, but warned them of the consequences; that death would result if they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit. Sickness and death are a constant warning to us of the seriousness of sin, as well as a sober reminder that there are consequences for our behavior. God takes our choices seriously. We should too. Apart from God’s grace, what we sow, we will likely reap. Read the Old Testament and you will see that God’s judgments and punishment of Israel, though severe, were meant to bring the nation back to God. The book of Hosea is a classic. More than any other Old Testament book it catalogs the sins of Israel, and yet it most clearly shows God’s love for His people. God hated executing judgment on Israel. It broke His heart (Hosea 11:8-9). He gave them warning after warning until there was no choice left but to judge. C.S. Lewis rightly says that pain is like God’s “megaphone [amplifier] to rouse a deaf world.”—And it works! Pain definitely gets our attention. It will either drive us closer to God or further away. God always means it for good. Let me tell you about leprosy. Leprosy is a disease of the nerves. People with leprosy lose the ability to feel. It is not, as I used to think, some horrible disease which eats away the flesh. The reason lepers’ hands and feet seem to rot away is because they lose feeling and keep hurting themselves, over and over again, until irreversible damage has been done. Fingers and toes wear away. Did you know that in studies with lepers, the only thing that prevented them from hurting themselves was pain? Some doctors, in trying to help leprosy patients, hooked up some artificial warning devices to let lepers knowwhen they were hurting themselves. They devised bells, buzzers and flashing lights. The lepers would turn them off and do whatever they were going to do anyway. Why? Because it didn’t
hurt. Pain (an electrical shock) was the only thing doctors found that kept lepers from hurting themselves. Without pain we’d be like those lepers. It’s a sad fact, but true. We need pain in order to keep from hurting ourselves, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Please read Romans 8:18-25. Paul says that God both allows, and even causes, pain and frustrations to produce a hope and a longing for heaven. Paul says that God is the one who “subjected the creation to frustration.”—That is a hard pill to swallow. You mean God is responsible for some of the pain and frustrations we experience?—Yes. For example, who longs for heaven the most: a person going through suffering, or someone living the “good life” with fancy cars and a mansion? God doesn’t want us to get confused about where our real home is. Our home is in heaven. Pain and trials bring that lesson home loud and clear.—God is often nearest to us in our pain. Suffering also helps us identify with the sufferings of Christ. We begin to appreciate what Jesus went through for us on the cross. When we suffer we also discover God’s comfort, which in turn helps us comfort others who are hurting. (Please read II Corinthians 1:3-11.) Question #3: “Can I pray & expect God to heal me?” Yes, you may pray. Sometimes God will answer yes, sometimes no. But, rest assured, God will do what is right. The main thing to remember is that you are truly loved by him. It is within God’s power to heal you. And, in some cases he may. I know people who have been miraculously healed. I encourage you to humbly ask God to heal you. Ask him to do what is best for you and those you love. Pray that God will do that which most glorifies him. Sometimes God will take us out of the storm. Other times he takes the storm away from us. But more often than not God walks through the storm with us. Remember, 100% of us will die sometime.—Even men and women of faith eventually die. Let me also encourage you not to equate being healed, or not being healed, with how much God loves you and can use you. Scripturally, God is far more concerned about your spiritual well-being than your body (although both are important). What
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