Does God afflict us with sickness to teach us things?

March 7th, 2007

I received The City Church email newsletter for March, and they had a “Questions and Answers” section at the bottom of it. The City Church is in Kirkland, WA with Pastor Wendell Smith leading the way. The City Church is over 6,000 members strong.

The first question is below:

Does God afflict us with sickness to teach us things?

No. Sickness comes from the evil one, from the devil, and is an affliction sent from hell to hurt or destroy God’s people and hinder the work of God through them. Just as parents would never want sickness to come upon their children as a means of education, so our Heavenly Father does not want us to be sick. This is why the Lord our Healer (Jehovah Rapha) has provided healing for us through the work of Christ on the cross (see Isaiah 53). And this is why Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). This is also why we have gifts of healings and means of healing in the church (1 Cor 12:9; James 5:14,15) so that God’s people can be healthy and strong and ready for every good work.

The only thing we need to establish to show the above statement in error is an example in the Bible where God does use sickness to teach us things. Here are several.

  1. What about the fall of man? God used the fall of man (where sickness came from) to punish disobedience and to show us His glory through redemption.
  2. What did God say the punishment for Israel was for not carefully observing His words?
    “If you do not carefully observe 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, 59 then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues ”great and prolonged plagues”and serious and prolonged sicknesses. 60 Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.” Deuteronomy 28:58-60
    It sounds like God will make them sick…
  3. In Numbers, God sent a plague that killed 14,700 of the Israelites for complaining against Moses and Aaron.
  4. In 2 Samuel 24 God sent a plague on Israel because David performed a census of the people that killed 70,000 people.
  5. God struck Uzziah with leprosy for burning incense in the temple in 2 Chronicles 26:19-21.
  6. In the New Testament we find Christians becoming sick because of the judgement of the Lord regarding communion. See 1 Corinthians 11:29-31. Paul says if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. The only judge I know of is God.
  7. In Acts 5 we read of Ananias and Sapphira (Christians) who are killed by the Lord for lying to the Spirit. I would rather catch a cold that be killed.
  8. In Acts 13:7-11 Paul struck blindness (through the power of the Holy Spirit) on a sorcerer.

From these examples I do see God causing sickness, plagues, and diseases as punishment and for lessons to those who hear about them. I personally see no biblical grounds to claim otherwise. I think those who profess otherwise create their own God in their head, ignoring the example of the Bible that God left us.

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2 Responses to “Does God afflict us with sickness to teach us things?”

  1. craig
    March 13th, 2007 at 11:13 am

    One thing many people bring up is the book of Job. They say God didn’t bring the sicknesses on Job, but allowed the Devil to do it.

    First, there are scriptures elsewhere that say God did cause sickness and palgues.

    Second, lets say my son was sitting on the ground and I had a dog on a leash that wanted to maul my son. If I let go…who would be ultimately responsible?

    If you read Job, God used that event to teach Job some valuable lessons. Job got a great benefit. By his own words “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” Job 42:5

    I am not trying to say God is a bad God by allowing and putting sickness on people. I belive the Bible teaches we can trust Him when He does, because God will use it all for good (Romans 8:28).

  2. Heidi
    March 16th, 2007 at 11:19 am

    I’m not sure how to bring up a new subject, so I wrote this one in here.
    What exactly does this passage of scripture mean Rom. 9:10-24 in light of Calvinism vs. Aremenism? It seems like God choses some people despite the excersise of their free will?

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