Namaan
Pride acts as a barrier between you and God, between your will and His will.
In the book of Proverbs God gives a list of things He hates, and the first one on
the list is pride.
Over and over in the bible, we are warned that if we exalt ourselves, God will
bring us down.
Sickness is often one of the most humbling and distressing trials that can come
upon a person.
She wasn’t bitter that she had been enslaved by the Syrians.
Possibly out of desperation, but perhaps based upon respect for her
integrity
To humble, chasten, warn or discipline people and/or nations for their arrogance
or disobedience in order to encourage them unto repentance.
To punish people and/or nations for their sin.
God allows sickness to test/prove a person’s faithfulness (e.g. Job) or lack thereof
(Luke 16:10)
John 16:23-24 “I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will
give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will
receive, that your joy may be full.”
Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”
James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
Still, whether healing takes place, and for what purpose, is left to the
sovereign will of God.
Remember that God told Moses, "See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have
wounded and I will heal and no-one can deliver out of my hand."
(Deut. 32:29) and “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
(Rom 9:15)
Sometimes God says “No” (2 Cor. 12:7-10, Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”)
Some have been gift the gift of healing (1 Cor. 12:9; Mark 16:17-18)
"I am certain that I was infected by having unprotected sex with a woman
who has the virus. The problem is that I can’t pinpoint the time, the place
of the woman. It’s a matter of numbers. Before I was married, I truly lived
the bachelor’s life... as I traveled around National Basketball Association
cities, I was never at a loss for female companionship... I confess that after
I arrived in Los Angeles, in 1979, I did my best to accommodate as many
women as I could - most of them through unprotected sex." His habitual
fornication caught up with him. He deliberately and recklessly played a
game of Russian roulette with his own life and the lives of the women he
had sexual relations with. Today, he is suffering the consequences of his
lustful desires. The same is true with people who are risking their mental,
physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health through adulterous
relationships.
Yes, confession cleanses us from unrighteousness as I John 1:9 tells us,
but it will not erase the consequences of our deeds.
In Isaiah 53:5 we see the disease we are healed from is the sickness of sin in our
lives.
“But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.”
The man at the poolside (John 5:1-7): This certain man had laid by the “healing”
pool with false hope in thinking that someday he would be able to slip into the
pool and find healing. Typically, the pool represents what the law could do. The
only problem was that he was unable to obtain and meet the requirements of the
law. He may have gotten very close to the healing pool, but he always seemed to
come up short. Many today are like that man in that they are trying to achieve the
righteousness of God by their own efforts, yet miserably fall short. Romans 3:23
says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Satan the
deceiver will continue to "move the waters" giving you false hope while at the
same time watching you struggle. When the Lord approached him he first asked,
"Do you want to get well?"(John 5:6) When the man affirmed that he did, Jesus
then made him whole and added “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."
(John 5:8-15)