God Gave Me This Sickness to Draw Me Closer to Him [False Views About Healing 5]

God Gave Me This Sickness

Are you sick and trying to figure out why? For some reason, we try to find a purpose behind what is happening in our lives. We try to find some noble purpose behind our suffering, it makes it more tolerable.

Many of the false views about sickness have some noble concept behind them that can cause you to believe that sickness is ultimately good for you. These deceptions cause you to embrace the very thing that you know is not good for you. It causes you to accept and endure something from which Jesus died to save you.

The noble cause behind today’s false view is that God gives you a sickness to draw you closer to Himself. If this is true what greater cause can there be than to draw you nearer to God? Have you ever stopped to think through the implications of the statement “God gave me my sickness to draw me closer to Him”?

Then God is the Source of Your Sickness

If this statement is true, then God is the source of your sickness. If God is the source of your sickness, what hope do you have of ever being healed? Sickness, then, is a wonderful thing because it’s God showing His deep love by drawing you near to Himself.

Since God is the source of your sickness there is no need to pray or attempt to seek relief from the sickness. It’s God’s tool to bring you to intimacy with Him.

A False Image of God

Can you even picture in your mind an earthly parent purposely infecting their child with a disease as a way to draw them closer to themself? I can’t. It’s unthinkable.

What mother would say, “I just love it when my child is sick. We are so close when she is ill. The sicker the better. My daughter loves to sit in my lap and cuddle. We spend hours in the presence of one another. It’s just the two of us. It’s such a bonding experience I can get no other way.”

We would be outraged if an earthly parent thought this way. We would call child services if we saw them infecting their child with a disease. We would condemn a parent who made their child sick just to draw them closer to themself. We would think them cruel, demented, and evil. So why do we believe God would do such a thing?

Why do we think that a God who loves us enough to send His Son, Jesus, to die a terrible death on the cross to set us free from the power of sin and death would purposefully place sickness upon His children?

Implications of the Lie

If you believe that God is one who has made you sick to draw you nearer to him, the following implications apply.

You Must Totally Accept the Sickness

If God is the source of your sickness then you should humbly accept it as God’s best for your life. To seek healing in any form would be to strive against the will of God for your life. Even going to the doctor would be contrary to the belief that God is doing this to draw you near.

If this thought is true it would make sense that the sicker you are the closer you can come to God. Many people say with their mouths that their sickness has drawn them close to God, but their actions prove they do not really believe this to be true.

They go to the doctor to seek to get rid of the sickness. They get medication and seek any and every form of relief from the sickness. They know deep down that sickness is not good and fight it in any way they can,

If you truly believe that the sickness is beneficial, then the sicker you are the better. Plus you should not seek any relief. You should accept it as the will of God.

That’s why this lie is so diabolical. You cannot find any passages in the New Testament that speaks of sickness as being something that God is going to give His children. We only have evidence to the contrary.

In the word of God, we see God promising blessing and healing to those who walk with Him. We see Jesus constantly healing the sick and oppressed. Never once do we hear Jesus tell anyone that sickness is a benefit. Never once do we see Jesus walking up to someone and placing a disease upon them as a blessing. In fact, we see the exact opposite. Jesus healed the sick.

You Must See Sickness as a Good Thing

Follow the logic. If sickness draws you closer to God, then sickness is good. The results are wonderful and beneficial. You have a deepened relationship and dependence upon God.

I am one hundred percent in agreement that a deeper relationship with God is good, but that in no way means that sickness is good. Sickness is always seen as bad. It is always portrayed as being part of the curse.

Over the years I have personally heard many people describe how close they feel to God because of the sickness they have. Difficult situations have a way of either drawing us near to God or driving us away. Just because sickness has drawn you near does not make sickness good.

I have even heard people say that they wouldn’t trade their sickness for anything because of how close they feel to God. They truly believe that sickness has been a blessing in their life.

We can draw near to God without being sick. We are as close to God as we desire. James tells us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. Sickness must be seen for what it is: our enemy.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and sickness is one of them. Every person healed or delivered provides evidence that Jesus wants to heal the sick and set his people free from every affliction of the enemy.

The Realities of Sickness

Sickness Debilitates

Sickness takes away the health and wholeness Jesus came to give. It robs people of strength, mobility, finances, and time.

Think about the woman with the issue of blood. She spent all that she had on the physicians and they could do nothing for her. Yet, she simply touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and she is made whole. No more wasting time in doctor’s office after doctor’s office. No more doctor bills eating up her income.

Think about the woman who was bent over for eighteen years. Her eyes were constantly on the ground. Having to contort her body to look up and speak to anyone with whom she desired to speak.

Jesus did not see this as a blessing. He saw it as Satan oppressing a daughter of Abraham. He cast the demon out and healed the woman because it was the will of God. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. He was taking sickness away from people, not giving it to them.

Jesus said that healing is the children’s bread. How can we at the same time say that God is making us sick? Jesus said a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. God doesn’t use sickness to bring about His will. He only heals.

Sickness Fails to Glorify God

I’ve mentioned this before, but it is worth repeating here. God is not glorified by sickness. He is always glorified when people are healed.

How many people were standing outside the beautiful gate praising God for his greatness as they looked upon the lame man? It was only as he was healed that the people praised God. 

8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (Acts 3:8-10)

The people were filled with wonder and amazement, not at the sickness of the lame man, but at his healing. They couldn't believe what happened to the man. I can provide verse after verse of people responding with awe to healing. Can you find anywhere in Scripture where a  person glorifies God for sickness?

Sickness is the Enemy

I hope I’m not sounding like a broken record, but God does not make you sick in order to draw you closer to Him. This is just one of many lies that keep the people of God sick and unproductive for the Lord.

Sickness is your enemy. Don’t embrace it. Resist it and seek the healing available through the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have believed the lie that God gave you a sickness to draw you near to Him, then repent and reject the lie. Stand in the truth of His word that “I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.” (Exodus 15:26)

Sickness in the Old Testament was always seen as judgment. It’s never seen in a positive light. The good news is that if you are in Jesus there is no condemnation or judgment for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus bore the wrath of God upon Himself and He will not place sickness upon you for any reason.

P.S. If this post has touched your life, go ahead and leave a comment below. I am interested to hear your story.