If a Christian is facing an illness that will not go away and needs encouragement, the Lord healing the paralytic who was lowered through the roof in Mark 2:1-12 can touch our deepest wounds but not in the way many might think. When the man who could not move of his own volition was lowered … Continue reading Sin is Worse than Sickness
The good times are to be expected, and the hard times are surprising and strange. Perhaps that unconscious assumption is causing us grief. In his book Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry describes the “old-timers” in a way that seems lost on many people today. He says: “As much as any of the old-timers, he regarded the Depression … Continue reading Finding Strength in Hard Times
Dear Brother or Sister, I have come into your sick-room, as it were, and wish to tell you a few things for your comfort and profit. God has seen fit to stop you in the midst of your busy life, and to lay you aside for a while. It is not by chance that His … Continue reading For Those Whom God Has Afflicted?
Being sick for three days gives you time to think about your frailty. Even if that sickness is only a flu virus that poses little threat to your life, the fact that you must withdraw from being productive to spend time in bed exposes your weakness, and that is not always a bad thing. This … Continue reading 3 Reflections on Sickness and the Christian Life
I know the suffering and pain that sickness entails. I admit the misery and wretchedness that it often brings along with it, but I cannot regard it as an unmixed evil. I see in it a useful provision to check the ravages of sin in men's souls. If man had never sinned, I would have been at a loss to … Continue reading 5 Benefits of Sickness
After a little while, you will see Me! – John 16:17 Those sweet tender words, “After a little while,” have deep thoughts in them, like the still ocean at the twilight, thoughts too deep for our fathoming. They breathe some precious comfort to those believers whose burdens are heavy, either with care, or poverty, or sickness. Neither shall the mourner … Continue reading A Sedative for Every Sorrow
Whatever trials you have, my dear brother, Christ is all in all to meet them. Are you poor? He will make you rich in your poverty by His consoling presence. Are you sick? He will make your bed in your sickness, and so will make your sick-bed better than the walks of health. Are you persecuted? If it is … Continue reading Whatever Your Trials, Christ Can Meet Them
Forget not all his benefits. - Psalm 103:2 Jesus, Your benefits are innumerable. They are as infinite as You. You forgive all our iniquities. They are too numerous for us to count, but where sin abounds, Your grace abounds all the more. The wrath we deserve, You bore on the cross. Oh, Father, You heal … Continue reading The Benefits of the Lord
The Fight of Faith 