Been to the Doctors lately? What was going through your mind – apart from the having to wait (perhaps at what seems far too long to get in, that is), or what it is going to cost you?
In the face of sickness do we not reflect in same way upon our mortality and vulnerability? It may take the form of something like ‘I can’t afford to get sick now!’ Or perhaps like ‘When will I ever be free from this…’
Are we not also to reflect on the present love and mercy of God? It may be a remembrance of Psalm 103:13-14, “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” It may be thinking of Christ’s words to Paul in his continued illness, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9). So we also remember in faith the Lord’s compassion, love and sufficiency of grace even in such times of weakness – and are comforted and encouraged.
Yet should we not also be filled with hope and the joy of expectation brought about by the promise of the gospel encapsulated in Rev 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
It is no surprise then to see Jesus coming into this world exercising authority over sickness and disease, as He healed them, both validating and demonstrating His ministry to crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15).
In the New Creation that is coming because of Christ where there will be no sickness and death, for the curse is reversed in Christ.
Yet, even as we await that day we will all know the pangs, pains, perplexities, and perniciousness of disease in this life. We are headed for death. But we also know the presence of the Lord, and His comfort, interventions, moderations, and over-ruling of sickness as all other effects of the curse, such that we look for the good in and through disease, and beyond death to life. And so even in the most severest suffering we are able to give thanks (Phil 4:6).To God be the glory!