God's Promises: When Feeling Sick

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." - Psalm 23:4 -

No matter what happens, Oh Lord, I will not fear if bad or evil things will happen for I know that you are with me and you will comfort me. So even if I go through very rough paths, your guidance and protection will be there to fend off evil.

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." - Psalm 73:26 -

This can mean many things to many people and holds a lot of interpretations for one to ponder about. This may pertain to sickness in the flesh or sickness in the society. As for me, I find it quite intriguing that this psalm correlates to what I have just read and watched previously. I was watching a video about the freemasons, a supposed brotherhood of secrets. A society of the rich and powerful. Then it led me to be curious about the New World Order conspiracy theory. While I haven't found or there are no concrete hard evidences pertaining to this theory or the allusions of it regarding the freemasons, it can make one wonder, especially someone with an open and inquisitive mind, that something like this is not very far from happening. That sooner or later, the rich and powerful elite will have control over the whole world under a totalitarian government  and reduce the population to retain the upper class. It's like a large scale holocaust but done in a massive secret. Just thinking about it scares me off my wits! When I read Psalm 73, I would think that this speaks about evil wicked things that people do. It talks about wealth, power, and wickedness. How they can go about their lives without having to worry about things that common people do and are doing things for their own selfish desires. But this very psalm reminds me of the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. Even if I live up to the day that this will be in the clearing and I see goodness being destroyed by the wicked, God will be my strength to keep me moving towards Him. Even if my flesh and my heart will fail and my weakness will fall upon me, I will call unto the Lord and His strength will abound in me.

"...I will tell all of your deeds." - Psalm 73:28 -

"I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him..." - Isaiah 57:18 -

Despite of our shortcomings and failures to God, He does not accuse and be angry always with us. In fact, He even heals, guides, and restores us so that we will praise and glorify Him even more. He heals us of all our sicknesses. He guides us to the right and truth path and He restores comfort in our hearts and spirits so that peace will abound in us.

"When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" - Matthew 8:16-17 -

Right now, I'm sick. I am inflicted with a disease that would soon be visible and would greatly affect my entire life. I have even thought to myself, even before, that I am not gonna last long in this temporal world. I thought that if I'm going to die, it would be out of a grave illness. I think it's better than to die in an accident or tortured or abused or raped or be killed by someone. But of course, it would be best to die a natural death. But honestly, when or how we die is not merely as important as how we lived. If we have lived a truly fulfilling life nourishing our soul within, then we would not be afraid of the consequences of death.

I know I have not been taking care of my health lately. I am as disorganized as my mind seeks out new information one after another. As chaotic as how my emotions can drive me to 'create stuff'. It has its pros and cons. I just hoped that I can still let my creativity and thought process flow while keeping my feet in the ground and becoming aware of my surroundings and my wellness. 

When one is sick, one would pray to get better and be healthy. I do wish for that. But somehow, I feel unworthy to ask of such things knowing that the result of my health is due to my faulty decisions and neglectful outlook towards it. Rather, I find it better to pray that I continually grow in His loving arms and that I will not fail Him as I spend my days here on earth, so that when the time comes, I would accept it gracefully and confidently knowing that God is by my side.

But now that I am aware, I still do try to make my health better by doing the right things. Somehow it's very very hard for me. Old habits die hard. I'm very inconsistent and tend to stumble and falter following my own whims and doing things impulsively and not eating right at the right time. I realized, I haven't really prayed devotedly to God to help me with my struggle against this dilemma. But I wouldn't have come up with this if I were not to write my thoughts out. Thank God for His faithfulness and love. Just like me, one just needs to pray and present our problems to God and He will do wonders in our lives.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." - John 16:33 -

Another coincidence? Or another verse that speaks right through my heart as of the moment. I have been experiencing conflicting emotions right now. I don't always bother about relationships with other people especially intimate relationships (unless it's really worth it) because they usually create messy situations and issues. I always want to have a peace of mind. That's why I hate people politics, issues, conflicts and controversies among peers. They just destroy the peace that I've been maintaining. But this verse says that one can truly achieve peace in Jesus. This is just the peace I need in my life. And I've failed to realize it just a few hours before. I was just so caught up with the things that were happening around me. I was really bothered, but the irony of it is that I didn't call unto God about them. I just kept on thinking about the stuff that were happening and just saying things off of my mind. Jesus says that in this world we will have trouble. There will always be things happening that are beyond our control. Just like what I have always been saying, one just have to trust and hope in the Lord no matter what happens in our lives. Take heart because Jesus is overcoming the world along with its pain and tribulations.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:37-39 -

Nothing, even sickness can separate us from the love of the Lord. I have heard a couple of times from various people that sickness, suffering and pain is relative to sins. Whether they are your sins or the sins of your relatives ahead of you. Like punishment. I realized that I have planted this principle in my life that I am always careful not to do things that I perceive as bad based on a lot of factors. What's ironic is that despite of me trying to do good things, I still experience sickness, suffering, and pain. I must have done something wrong. Could it be the sins of my ancestors? Could it be sins from the past that I was not aware of? But soon, God made me realize that sickness, suffering and pain is not always relative to sins and wrong doing. In fact, they served as a better purpose for they led me closer to the presence of God. 

I had a very insightful church service last Sunday and it was really profound and really made me think. It's actually one of the things that's bothering me once in a while. The pastor gave two examples of two devoted Christians, who, at some point in their lives, left Christianity and became agnostics. I have also heard before about some Christians who turned their backs from Christ. And hearing stories like these are truly heart breaking. I sometimes fear that something like that will happen to me. When these thoughts would overcome me, I would then pray to God that He keep my heart and soul only for Him. That He will never leave me if I am too weak and too vulnerable. I pray that that will never happen to me. That is worst than all the sicknesses in the world. That is actually the worst thing that will ever happen to me. And I pray that I will not come to that point ever. It's just dreadful.

Now regarding the two devoted Christians that the pastor mentioned, they were really great theologists and preachers. They even finished college degrees about it from prestigious schools! They preached to a lot of people and were highly acclaimed Christians! And it's sad to know that after being really great Christians, they turned their backs on Him and even wrote books about it.  The pastor exclaimed that what more with us--if it happened to those really devout Christians, it could happen to any of us! But the pastor somehow made us understand that we shouldn't worry about straying from God for if our hearts and souls are truly for the Lord, we will never leave and falter.

So what about those Christians who left the ministry? What exactly happened? The pastor then explained that one Christian fell away from his faith because he couldn't understand how only Christians can be saved when the final day comes. Of all the millions and billions of peoples in the world, is it the only truth that those who is in Christ will be the only ones who will be saved? I figured this person must have learned a lot of different religions for him to doubt his own faith. Actually, he became agnostic after graduating from a prestigious university about theology or religion (I didn't quite remember but it is somehow related to that). So from that statement, I can deduce that he was able to learn different kinds of religions that he became agnostic. Another reason that the other Christian turned away was that he could not comprehend the suffering of the world. He probably had seen too much suffering going on around him that he could not imagine that God allowed this to happen. He could probably not imagine there is a Holy and Loving God who is allowing these things to happen. There can be many reasons why they turned away from Jesus Christ and one can only wonder and presume what really happened based on these information. But one thing is clear about their actions--too much skepticism and doubt. While it's not a good thing to be ignorant and have a blind faith, it's also not a good thing to question and doubt too much that you trust in your own reasoning and understanding without God's guidance. Surely this isn't wisdom nor knowledge that the Bible speaks of. It is something that creeps into the hearts of men when they let their own logic and intelligence rule over them and do not consult God in everything that they do.

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding, it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." - Proverbs 24:3-4 -

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." - Proverbs 1:7 -

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord and shun evil." - Proverbs 3:5-7 -

"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." - Proverbs 12:15 -

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." - Proverbs 14:12 -

"Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." - James 5:14-15 -