Does God care for me if I’m sick and afflicted in many ways?

God loves everyone but some people may question His love when they live in pain and suffering. One form of pain that may lead people not to believe in God’s love for them is sickness. I know that there are those that live in dire poverty, in wars, and all other forms of suffering that could also deny the love of God for them.

In this post I want to delve into the reality of God’s equal love for all of the living including you even when you are in pain or live under difficult conditions.

God and our will

Often times we take life as it comes such that we may be tempted to believe that it is absolutely our will or the way we do things that lands us in perilous situations. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that God is in total control of whatever happens to believers. God’s word and everything written in it about God is true. It is important to keep it in mind that Christians are God owned as they have been bought at a very high price (1 Corinthians 7:23). At that price, God wont let just anything happen to His people whom He treasures very much.

God is in total control and everything that happens is within His plan. Someone may argue that people do as they wish and that God seems not to be controlling that aspect. For example, there are people that kill others, do all forms of robberies, oppose the Bible, and those that persecute some brethren. These are people that clearly and purposefully go against God’s will.

It is true that God lets people have their will prevail but this can only go to certain limits. God can force His own purpose into one’s will. For example, it is God that made Pharaoh to harden his heart to pursue the children of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 14:4). In this verse, we learn that God told Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. In this way, God tapped into Pharaoh’s will. In verse 8, God fulfills His promise. It is clear in verse 4 that God did this to gain glory for Himself when Egypt sees that He is the LORD. It is still true that God won’t stop anyone from turning away from evil but He can serve His purpose in any way He pleases.

Another good example of God’s control over what happens to us is that of Job of Uz. A man who was blameless and upright yet God allowed the devil to inflict sorrow in his life. The book of Job gives a complete account of how Job lived to please God even when he had all the reasons not to. Job’s account can be very confusing when it comes to how God deals with His own.

It is clear therefore that God’s ways of running the universe is only according to His divine plan.  When you are in pain you can only pray for God’s mercy on your life and He can have mercy on you. You have to pray until you get well otherwise keep on praying. You know like I do that some people have prayed until they lost their lives without getting better. Sadly, this may happen to you too.

God and sickness

Do not be deceived to believe that when you are sick it is because God does not care about you. A number of verses talk about God’s loved ones experiencing sickness in their bodies. I will quote just three of such instances:

1. Paul had a thorn in his flesh which we are not told what it was. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul declares his situation. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times but the response from God was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.
2. Job was inflicted with sores all over his body yet he was God’s beloved (Job 2:7). In verse 10, Job confirms that such pain and suffering can be received from God when he says, ‘…Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’
3. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19 – 31 tells us about Lazarus as a person whom God loved yet he was in pain not only in his body but also his situation was dire as he was declared a beggar (verse 22).

Food for thought

I have a few questions that I would leave you to think about after reading the previous sections:

1. Do you really want to live longer in this terrible world? Don’t you know that death is a gateway into a better place only if you are in a good relationship with God (Philippians 1:21)?
2. Don’t you think that the best thing to do when you are in pain is to prepare yourself to meet God than to lament your situation? You may pray for recovering from your pain but that should not cloud the truth of death.
3. People that dispute the love of God that lets people go through pain, even to the point of death, deceive themselves because the Bible has records of such instances. Don’t dare blame God or even argue in your heart about the love of God because doing so does not change who God is.

I also do get sick sometimes and such pain fuel me to do more of God’s work and prepare my way while I am able. I also do ask for God’s intervention but I know his answer may not be what I desire all the time. I think that is the best thing to do for myself and prepare to meet God as opposed to fighting reality and nature. I believe that His grace is still sufficient for me even when I’m in pain.

Be blessed.

Revised: 4 February 2018