I’ve been thinking about this saying that people often say here in Portugal. It’s something like this. “How’ it going?” “Well, as long as I’m healthy, that’s the most important thing, health. So, as long as I’m healthy.”
One time while doing a public campaign I asked the people I was interviewing what was the most important thing to them, and the largest portion said it was health. But then I would tell them a little story to show them that maybe health wasn’t the most importante thing but that being in good relationship with those around us was even more important than health.
I’ll share that story in a moment. But that’s not where I am going with this article. What I’m asking is, “Is health the most important thing and as long as you’re healthy you’re fine?
Bible tells us the most important commandment is “To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. And the second is like unto it, to love thy neighbor as thyself.”[Mark 12:30]
In the Proverbs we read, “Get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding,” and “Wisdom is the principal thing.”[Proverbs 4:7] In fact the Proverbs tell us that if we pursue wisdom it will bring us health and life.[Proverbs 4:13,22] The life it alludes to could very well be the eternal life we all inwardly hope for and desire.
Elsewhere, in the Psalms we read over and over again how David’s problems and afflictions brought him closer to God. In other words, they were good for him. We read, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I do keep thy law. [Psalm 119:67] It was good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes.”[Psalm 119:71]
The Bible is a collection of some of the oldest books in the world. Moses edited the book of Genesis and wrote it down around 1,500 BC. The book of Job is said to be from the time of Abraham who lived around 2,000 BC. Do you remember the story of Job? He was a rich man with ten children, wealthy, well respected, a city father, righteous, kind to those in need, a really good man. But the story goes that Satan asks God permission to afflict Job to test his faith. Satan says, “He doesn’t really love you, let me test him, and I’ll show you.” God says, “Okay, test him, but don’t take his life.”[Job 2:5-6]
First the devil destroys his children killing them all in an earthquake that takes their lives. He has thieves come and steal all Job’s cattle, and sheep, and camels, etc which was where his riches lay. And finally, Satan afflicts Job’s health.
Job’s own wife tells him he should curse God who must be bringing all this bad luck upon him and die.[Job 3:9-10] But Job responds with one of his most poignant lines of faith, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”[Job 13:15]
Job’s best friends come to comfort him. But all they can conclude is that God is just and therefore Job must have some secret sin that God is dealing with. He needs to confess and repent and get right with God. Job responds that they would have been wiser to have just sat quietly with him and accompanied him in his suffering instead of self-righteously condemning him.[Job 13:5]
Job answers that he has not sinned, but that he has been righteous in all his ways. So his friends stop talking with him, “because Job was righteous in his own eyes, and justified himself rather than God.”[Job 32:1-2]
Then the youngest friend speaks and tries to explain to Job that God is righteous in what he does. He says, “God will not do wickedly, nor will he pervert judgment.”[Job 34:12] His friend exposes Job’s sin and says, “You think that you are more righteous than God and that you therefore don’t desserve this affliction.”[Job 34:5] His friend is trying to show Job that his real sin is that Job feels he is righteous and good and therefore assumes that God is unjust in what He is doing.
Finally God speaks to Job and asks him if he Job can instruct God?[Job 40:2] God asks Job question after question after question.[Job 38 & 39] Job finally gets the point and says, “Lord, I am vile:”[Job 40:4] And lays his hand upon his mouth. After God finishes reproving him and instructing him Job answers, “I know that Thou can do anything, and that no thought can be hidden from thee…..I have said things that I really didn’t have understanding in. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”[Job 42:2,3,6]
You see Job’s sin was his self-righteousness. That he trusted in his own righteousness to save him. He missed the point that none of us are really righteous though we may have an appearance of righteousness and may in deed think we are.
Job’s affliction led him to the realization that God is good and no matter what happens in our life God will bring good from it if we can continue to love and trust Him. Apostle Paul assures us in his writings that “All things work together for good to them that love God.”[Romas 8:28] That’s why the most famous line from the book of Job is Job’s declaration of faith where he says, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”[Job 13:15]
King David, the psalmist, wrote, “In my affliction I cried unto the Lord and He answered me from His holy tabernacle.”[Psalm 18:6 ] If you take time to read the Psalms you’ll find David finding God in his afflictions. His afflictions and troubles drew him to the bosom of God where all his needs were met.
In the book of Jonah we see Jonah saying, “I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heard my voice.”[Jonah 2:2] The affliction, the predicament, the problem Jonah was encountering was what caused him to cry unto the Lord. God allows those problems so that we will in deed seek His face as we so often drift away from Him or refuse His call.
Therefore, affliction, sickness, troubles, pain, and heartache are good if they ultimately get us to draw nigh to God. The Apostle James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, “Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you… Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”[James 4:8-10] Solomon wrote God is more in the house of morning than in the house of mirth.[Ecclesiastes 7:2] He said, “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”[Ecclesiastes 7:3]
So, we see that health is not the most important thing contrary to popular opinion. Our relationship with God is what is most important. If we lose everything else, but our faith, we have really lost nothing. But if we lose our faith in God, we have lost everything. Jesus even said it would be better for us to lose an eye or a hand if it brought us into relationship with God and kept us from eternal damnation.[Matthew 5:29-30]
Let your suffering and your pain and your sorrow draw you closer to God who loves you and wants to help you and comfort you and heal you and be your refuge in the time of trouble. Forsake your self righteous pride and call out to Him.
Solomon wrote, “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.” [Ecclesiastes 12:13] Paul tells us that God’s commandments are not grievous but are fulfilled in one word, even this, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”[Galatians 5:14] Therefore, friends, let us love God and one another for this is the whole duty of man. Let us take our suffering and afflictions bravely and let them draw us unto the bosom of God, Jesus Christ, His son [John 1:18] where we find healing, strength, victory, forgiveness, and provision for all our needs. Amen.
I forgot to tell you that story that I would use to show people that health was not the most important thing. Here goes.
Let’s say you are healthy but you are forced to live with a partner that is always putting you down, criticizing you, demeaning you. Is health then the most important thing? Wouldn’t being in good relationship with those around you be more important than your health? Or would our health mean much to us if our company was dreadful. Therefore, living in harmony with those around us is even more important than health. And bad health can be sustained and born if we are compassed about with loving companions. In fact bad health can be good for us if it brings us into harmony with the One who created us and loves us more than we can ever understand in this life and can ultimately bring us healing. It’s the same guy again, Jesus. We keep trying to leave that name out. But that’s the name we each really need to look into. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”[Acts 4:12]
My grandfather had a poem on the wall of his house. It went something like this.
There are only two things to worry about in life: health or sickness. If you are healthy, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about: you’ll get better, or you’ll get worse. If you get better, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you get worse there are two things to worry about: you’ll either die or you’ll recover. If you recover, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you die there are two things to worry about: you’ll either go to heaven or you’ll go to hell. If you go to heaven, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you go to hell, you’ll be so busy meeting old friends, you won’t have time to worry.
The point here that this comic relief is trying to convince us of is the idea that even suffering in hell will be bearable if we are in good company, in good relationship with others around us. In other words, if we are in good relationship with others we can bear anything. War is made bearable by the unity of spirit the combat team gains through the troubles they face together. Relationship with others makes us sacrÃfice and bear the unbearable. That’s what husbands and wives do for one another. That’s what parents do for their children.
But the conclusion that good company will make hell bearable is not true. The richman in the story Jesus told about the poorman and richman who died the same day did not seem to think that hell was a fun place. He asked God to allow him to get a message through to his other brothers that they come not to the same place.[Luke 16:19-31] So don't take the poem above as a slogan for life. You might end up somewhere you don't want to be, in Hell.
God wants relationship with us. He says, “Come and let us reason together.”[Isaiah 1:18ª] But because of the free will He has given us, He must allow sorrow and pain and death. Nevertheless, through these heartaches, He is there longing for us to seek relationship with Him. Relationship with God makes everything in life bearable and He promises to supply all our needs, be it health, provision, strength, comfort, light, love, etc. Please, call unto the Lord in your time of affliction and He will hear you. He will come to you and will give you peace and healing of heart, soul, mind, and body. That’s His promise and it’s true. Seek relationship with God. He’s waiting and He is only a prayer away.
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