Four Main Reasons for Illness
In the Bible, there are mainly four reasons for illness:
- Violating the natural laws
When God created the universe, He set up many laws. For example, if we want to stay healthy, we need to maintain good personal hygiene, keep a regular eating and sleeping schedule, and live in a clean environment. These are the laws of nature. If we violate these natural laws, we will get sick. If we do not put on more clothes in cold weather, we will definitely catch a cold. We need to obey God’s natural laws.
- Sin
Romans 5:12 says: “Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned.” The first cause of illness is actually sin. Because of man’s fall, sin came into the world, and then came weakness, illness, and death. If we do not deal with sin, God’s life cannot flow to us, and the result will be weakness, illness, and even death.
- Satan’s attacks
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul mentioned that He was caught away to the third heaven and into Paradise underneath the earth, and that he received transcendent revelations. Because of the transcendence of the revelations, in order that he might not be exceedingly lifted up, the Lord allowed Satan to buffet him by giving him a thorn in the flesh.
Concerning the thorn, Paul entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him, which means that he kept asking the Lord until He spoke to him. The Lord said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Once the Lord spoke, all his problems were gone.
- For God’s glory
In John 9, there is a man blind from birth. When the disciples saw him, they asked the Lord: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (v. 2). The Lord answered, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but he was born so, that the works of God might be manifested in him” (v. 3).
We belong to the Lord, so we should have faith in Him. If you are ill and cannot be healed, even though you have dealt with everything thoroughly, do not worry, our Lord will give you sufficient grace. When we are ill, on the one hand, we should take care of our personal hygiene and the cleanliness of our environment, and on the other hand, we should pray to the Lord earnestly to receive enlightening and supply and enjoy His sufficient grace. Since we have the Lord who rules over all things, what have we to fear?