Why Does God Allow Sickness?

Facing chronic pain/illness is an everyday battle and it’s only human nature to ask the question: why does God allow sickness? Especially, when so many areas of your life are being affected. Scripture gives us many reasons why God allows sickness in a believer’s life. Let’s take a look at a few of them…

The True Enemy

First things first: God is not the reason you’re sick! Let’s blame the true enemy: the devil! Sickness was not a part of God’s original plan. Sin entered the world along with sickness, pain, miscommunication and a whole host of other things that were never a part of God’s original plan for us. Because of the fall of mankind, we are still paying today for the sin of Eve and Adam.

Sin affected everything when it entered the world. Have you ever thought about the Garden of Eden and how large the fruits and vegetables grew in those days? A single grape was the size of your head in the beginning of time (perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit). Now they’re barely the size of your thumbnail. Life expectancy was well over a hundred years and in some cases even many hundreds of years if you refer to the Old Testament. Now, it’s seventy-five. All of that is a result of sin. We will continue to pay a dear price because Eve and Adam chose to disobey. With the fall of man came the fall of the entire earth. Sin left nothing untouched. The entire earth has suffered the price for man’s disobedience.

We’re Not Above Christ

Second, “a servant is not above his master”. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression? “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” Matthew 10:24, KJV. Jesus suffered immensely at Calvary. He suffered intense physical pain from the scourging and the process of the crucifixion itself. Jesus also suffered immense mental and emotional anguish when His Father could no longer look upon Him. Words don’t accurately describe what He endured for us.

Jesus suffered while He was in this world. As followers of Christ, we are not above Him and will also suffer through things here for many reasons. He knows EXACTLY what we’re going through because He suffered it all at Calvary.

From Milk to Meat: Spiritual Growth

Third, God allows sickness, pain and disease in our lives to grow us spiritually. Sometimes, He uses various trials that come into our lives to grow us in our spiritual walk with Him. By growing us in our spirit, He helps to move us from the “milk” to the “meat” of His word. 1 Corinthians 3:2 says “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”

Mothers feed new babies milk for a specific period of time. When baby is ready, they introduce solid food for nourishment. The same is true for Christians. The Lord will feed a young Christian with the “milk” of His word for a period of time. “Young Christian” referring to when a person first gets saved. Then, after they’ve grown and matured in their spiritual walk, He introduces them to the “meat”. The “meat” is the solid food of His word. Sickness is one of the tools He sometimes uses to help us grow in our faith and walk with Him. Our faith can only grow through trials.

Faith doesn’t have the opportunity to grow when things are going well. Unfortunately, our faith can only grow when we’re being stretched in the valleys of life. We learn just how firm our foundation is in Christ only when our faith is tested. It takes trials and valleys to test our faith. James said to “count it all joy…” then went on to say the trying of our faith creates patience. You can read James, chapter 1 here.

Mold and Shape Us into a Useful Vessel

Why does God allow sickness? By exposing us to trials like sickness and pain, the Lord is able to mold and shape us into the vessel He needs us to be. Sometimes trials come to prepare us for a specific task He has for us. An example of this is Joseph. His brothers hated him because they were jealous of him. They betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Then, Joseph was a captive in Potiphar’s house. He eventually became second in command in all of Egypt. Joseph ended up in charge of distributing grain during a great famine to the rest of the world, including his brothers.

Joseph ended up reunited with them and his father as well. He survived years of being a slave, the knowledge of his brother’s betrayal, and being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife. But God blessed Joseph in the midst of the tragedy by giving him favor.

I wouldn’t be capable of performing the tasks the Lord has for me without my struggles. I wouldn’t be the person I am. What I’ve been through has molded and shaped me into the person I am and will continue molding me into the vessel the Lord wants me to be for Him.

All Things Work for Our Good

Finally, God allows sickness for many reasons, but His reasons work to our good. “And we know that ALL things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. There’s been seasons in my journey that I clung to this scripture like a lifeline and I still one hundred percent believe it because His word says it!

Try not to fall into the trap of blaming God for your chronic pain/illness; remember the true enemy here is the serpent. Remember it’s through the trying of our faith that we’re able to grow into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Christ. As we learn to rely on ourselves less, we realize we can trust Him more in all areas of our lives. He’s the potter and we’re the clay. Sometimes, it feels like He puts us back up on His wheel and starts reshaping us.

No matter how big the giants we’re facing are, our God is bigger. When the Apostle Paul asked three times for the Lord to heal him from the thorn in his flesh, the Lord’s reply was “my grace shall be sufficient for thee”. His grace was sufficient for Paul and it’s sufficient for us too.