There are some common assumptions on the topic of healing from sickness that we may have grown up with and believed based upon both our experiences and our Scriptural interpretations.
Today I would like to examine one such assumption we may have adopted: “It is arrogant to presume that the reason a person is sick has to do with their sin [or negative emotional mindsets]. That heaps guilt on a person.”
What does God have to say about the relationship between sin and sickness? Did not sickness and death come into the world as a result of the Fall when mankind sinned against God?
If sickness in general came into the world because of sin, then is it possible that when we unwittingly find ourselves struggling with or practicing sin in our mindsets, attitudes, and actions, then sickness may follow as a byproduct? What does the Bible have to say about that? What insights might we glean from Psalm 38?
“Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, and do not punish me in Your burning anger. 2 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down on me. 3 There is no healthy part in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my guilty deeds have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. 5 My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness.”
–Psalm 38:1-5 NASB
In this psalm, David is pouring out his heart before God. To David, it feels like God is rebuking him in His wrath and punishing him in His burning anger. Like Job and Jeremiah likewise lamented, David says that God’s arrows have sunk deep into him (see Job 6:4; 16:13; Lamentations 3:12-13). Proverbs 7:23 speaks of the foolish man who fell into sexual immorality. Like an unsuspecting deer walking into a trap or a bird getting caught in a snare, an arrow will strike through the man’s liver, resulting in death.
Throughout his decades of counseling and seeing thousands healed of medically incurable diseases when they repent of carnal mindsets (like fear, rejection, idolatry, self-hatred, rage, envy & jealousy, self-pity, guilt, accusation, anxiety, bitterness, shame, self-hatred, unbelief, impurity, etc.), one pastor observed that men with liver cancer were often deeply addicted to pornography. [1]
This insight is reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching that if a man looks lustfully at a woman, he has already committed adultery in his heart. When the foolish man from Proverbs 7 committed adultery, a dart eventually struck through his liver and it cost him his life.
The wages of sin is death, and God cannot be mocked, for a man reaps what he sows. The man who sows to please his carnal nature from that nature will reap corruption. The one who sows to please the Spirit by walking by the Spirit will not gratify the lusts of the flesh and will reap eternal life. See Galatians 5:16; 6:7-8; Romans 8:6,13.
In the Old Covenant period before the Messiah (Jesus) arrived, adultery bore a death penalty. This was to demonstrate or illustrate to God’s people that certain sins lead to relational misery and premature death when they have run their course. Under the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, we are given the power to have dominion over sin when we receive God’s love for us and enjoy that love relationship.
For a man who loves his wife as he loves himself, adultery is the last thing on his mind. In the same way, when we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength by seeing Him rightly through what happened on the cross, sin will be the last thing on our minds that we want to do.
By learning to receive God the Father’s love for us, then consequently fear, rejection, bitterness, pride, contempt, shame, guilt, envy, self-pity, and all other incorrect mindsets and “works of the flesh” shall not have dominion over us. When we truly understand God’s grace, then the truth will make us free, and we will love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Should we find ourselves struggling with some fear, insecurity, or sin, it is because we have not yet fully received God’s love in that area of our lives, and God is inviting us deeper into fellowship with Him so that anything (namely lies, unbelief, and wrong ideas about God) that hinders our love relationship can be properly dealt with.
“I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go in mourning all day long. 7 For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no healthy part in my flesh. 8 I feel faint and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart. 9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me. 11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my kinsmen stand far away. 12 Those who seek my life lay snares for me; and those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, and they plot deception all day long.
13 But I, like a person who is deaf, do not hear; and I am like a person who cannot speak, who does not open his mouth. 14 Yes, I am like a person who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no arguments. 15 For I wait for You, Lord; You will answer, Lord my God. 16 For I said, “May they not rejoice over me, who, when my foot slips, would exalt themselves over me.”
17 For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. 18 For I admit my guilt; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. 19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong, and those who wrongfully hate me are many.
20 And those who repay evil for good, they become my enemies, because I follow what is good. 21 Do not abandon me, Lord; My God, do not be far from me! 22 Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation!”
–Psalm 38:6-21 NASB
To repeat the assumption under question today: “It is arrogant to presume that the reason a person is sick has to do with their sin. That heaps guilt on a person.” What observations can we make from the rest of Psalm 38?
David does acknowledge that he is suffering from sickness because of his sin. To repeat from the opening verses, “..There is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my guilty deeds have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. 5 My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness.” –Psalm 38:3b-5 NASB
David further acknowledges that he is guilty of sin in verse 18: “For I admit my guilt; I am full of anxiety because of my sin.” So it is arrogant to presume that sin can manifest or result in sickness or bodily breakdown?
Or to the contrary, can acknowledging our sin and the death that it brings be a sign of contrite humility and repentance before God? David was real with God and poured out his heart before Him (c.f. Psalm 62:8). He acknowledged his anxiety and expressed utter vulnerability before God (c.f 1 Peter 5:6-7; Philippians 4:6-7).
Sometimes, one may feel guilt heaped upon him or her unnecessarily by well-meaning but accusatory “friends” who, like Job’s “worthless physician” friends, may unwittingly be partnering with “the accuser of the brethren” (c.f. Revelation 12:9-11; 1 Peter 5:8).
Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, did not restore Job in a spirit of gentleness and humility according to Galatians 6:1, but rather accused him and heaped guilt on him through vague speculations and accusations.
For this God rebuked them and required an animal sacrifice for them all (for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins). However, a man named Elihu properly demonstrated Galatians 6:1 when he rebuked and corrected Job.
Elihu specifically showing Job how he had sinned by accusing God in a self-righteous, Pharisaical manner; but he also pointed Job to God’s solution. c.f. Job 32:1-3; 33:1ff. God did not rebuke Elihu nor require an animal sacrifice from him, as Elihu correctly defended God’s honor.
Prayer:
Father, I thank You that You are my Daddy [Romans 8:15] who really loves me. You demonstrated Your own love for me in what while I was still a sinner, You gave Jesus to come and die for me. [Romans 5:8; John 3:16]. You are absolutely perfect in all Your ways and Your identity is Love. [1 John 4:8] There is nothing in Your character or nature but the perfection of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, wisdom, understanding, power, and perfect fatherly discipline. [Galatians 5:22-23]
In You is absolute purity, holiness, perfection, foreknowledge, beauty, wonder, and incomprehensible majesty. Towards scorners (who think they “know it all” and don’t need to go any deeper concerning their relationship with You) You are scornful, but You give grace to the humble (who acknowledge that apart from You we can do nothing and are nothing) [Proverbs 3:34; John 15:5; 1 Corinthians 13:2].
So Father, I acknowledge that I don’t know anything apart from what You reveal to me through Your Word by Your Spirit. I acknowledge that the wages of sin is death, but Your gift is eternal life through Christ Jesus my Lord. [Romans 6:23]
It is only by Your grace that I am saved and trained to say no to unrighteousness [Titus 2:11-14; Romans 6:14; Ephesians 2:8-9]. I desire to walk by Your Spirit, to imitate You in every area of my life, for You engineered me in Your image [Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:1; Genesis 1:26-27]. For in You I live and move and have my being [Acts 17:28].
You are the God who forgives all sin and heals all my diseases. [Psalm 103:3] If I’m not seeing the healing of a disease in my life manifest yet, then it is not Your fault, but something on my end where I am failing to receive Your love in some area of my life.
I thank You that as I learn to be fathered by You and learn what it means to trust and obey You, then Your perfect love will cast out all my fear as I am empowered to love my neighbor and spiritual family members as myself. [1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 John 4:7-21].
Thank You that as I abide in Your Word and “love one another,” then Your love will grow to greater perfection in me, casting out fear and any “work of the flesh” that hinders love. Then I will know the truth and the truth will make me free. As I consider myself dead to sin and alive to You in Christ Jesus, I thank You for the life that I get to enjoy with You every day.
In Jesus name,
Amen (So be it!)
For more information on my background, the healing journey, or discovering who God is, I recommend the post “The Humble Father.”
[1] “Overcoming Fear, Guilt, Shame, and Lying,” Track 11. MP3. Dr. Henry W. Wright.
Any addiction comes with guilt, shame, and the accusing voice of condemnation. In this MP3 file, Dr. Wright noted that when they first came to him for ministry, many were addicted to pornography, but that freedom finally came when they better learned to receive God’s love for them, which alone can break the cycle of guilt, shame, and condemnation that occurs after each release of dopamine from the pornographic activity.