Understanding Suffering and Sickness

God and Healing
Understanding Suffering and Sickness

I. Introduction

A. The Bible says that Jesus is our !

B. There are two extreme viewpoints among followers of Jesus today about suffering and sickness.

1. Suffering and sickness are spiritual.

2. Suffering and sickness are .

C. Job 2:1-7 (NLT) ¹One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. ²“Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” ³Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.” ⁴Satan replied to the LORD, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. ⁵But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!” ⁶“All right, do with him as you please,” the LORD said to Satan. “But spare his life.” ⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

D. Numbers 25:8b-9 (NLT) ⁸So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, ⁹but not before 24,000 people had died.

E. Numbers 21:6 (NLT) So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.

II. The Biblical Tension Between Sickness and Healing

A. Old Testament examples

1. Psalm 103:1-3 (NAS) ¹Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. ²Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; ³who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.

2. Job 42:12a (NAS) The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.

B. New Testament examples

1. II Timothy 4:20 (NLT) Erastus stayed at Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.

2. Philippians 2:26-27 (NLT) ²⁶I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. ²⁷And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.

3. I Timothy 5:23 (NLT) Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often.

4. John 5:1-9 (NLT) ¹Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. ²Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. ³Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. ⁵One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” ⁷“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” ⁸Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” ⁹Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath.

III. What Should We Do When It Comes to Suffering and Sickness?

A. When you’re suffering, !

1. James 5:13a (NLT) Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.

2. “Suffering” – – “to endure ”

3. is our only source for help and comfort!

4. Jesus Christ is , if we will simply give ourselves fully to Him in the midst of our difficult circumstances!

B. When you’re sick, call the to for you.

1. James 5:14 (NLT) Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.

a. “Sick” – – “to be weak, feeble, diseased, or sick physically”

2. “Elder” – – “one who you, counsels you, looks after you spiritually”

3. That’s why are so important!

4. James 5:14 (NLT) Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.

5. Praying for the sick is supposed to be a of the church!

6. Our next Ministry Training I class will begin on May 25 during our 9:15 AM service.

7. James 5:15 (NLT) Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

8. If you’re a follower of Jesus, the answer for healing is always “”

IV. The in the Kingdom of God

A. Mark 1:15 (NAS) “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

B. Matthew 6:10 (NAS) “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

C. If we pray for the sick, then gets well!

D. James 5:15a (NLT) Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.

V. Conclusion