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Writer's pictureTrish Gelbaugh

" ... the one You love is sick"


This is Part 1 of a 6-Part Series on Illness, Healing, and Death

I used to be a very "think positively", "Don't Worry; Be Happy", "glass half full" kind of person. I would have been quick to spout any number of spiritual or worldly cliches along those lines. However, I have found that they just don't hold up when put to the test; they may work for awhile, but they will only take you so far in life.

My "tipping point" came in 2009 when my youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I had faced many trials in my life up until that point (including open heart surgery for my middle son and a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes for my daughter, among many, many others), and I believe I took them in stride. But this diagnosis turned my world upside down; it caused me to question my faith right down to its core.

First of all, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I had fully trusted and believed that God was protecting my children. His diagnosis was certainly not a result of my lack of belief or of faith (which is probably why it took me so completely off guard). But I had very well-meaning Christian friends who would say things that left me feeling that if I had only believed - really believed - he never would have gotten sick, and that if I would only genuinely believe my kids were healed, all I had to do was say the magic words and they would suddenly and miraculously be healed. ... If my kids were diagnosed with a chronic illness with no cure, and they were not healed, obviously, it was because I just wasn't believing God hard enough.

There were others who just genuinely didn't get it and responded as if, "What's the big deal? ... You've already endured this - and worse - before. Can't you just focus on the positives?"

I can't even explain the pain that I was silently enduring; the diagnosis was bad enough, the grief I was silently experiencing was overwhelming, but other people's responses to it were inadvertently heaping salt in a very, very raw wound. It went on for 3 solid years.

God eventually healed it - through scripture. It was nothing I could have ever healed on my own; the pain was so deep, so raw, that there was nothing anyone could say or do to touch it.

Through a bible study I was co-leading, God brought me to the story of Lazarus. I had heard (and read) it many times, but this time, He used it to speak to me in a very real, deeply personal way. And He used it to address the thoughts and doubts and grief that had taken up residence inside my head over the previous 3 years. He taught me many valuable lessons in order to heal my shattered heart, and I am going to take several posts to give time and attention to each one.

The first is that Lazarus did get sick - in spite of the fact that Jesus deeply loved him and cared for him. For whatever reason, God, in His sovereignty, allowed it. And it wasn't a result of sin, lack of faith, distance from God, or Satan attacking their family.

Allow me to give you some background:

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were siblings; they are mentioned several times in scripture, and in order to understand this story, it helps to put it into context. Jesus had a very special and significant relationship with them; they hosted Him for dinner privately at their house on more than one occasion. Scripture repeatedly indicates Jesus "loved" them; not just in a generic, "God loves everyone" sense, but in a deeply personal, intimate sense. Others around them knew He loved them, and even commented on it. When the women send word to Jesus about Lazarus' illness, they say, "Lord, the one You love is sick."

People get sick. Even people who have a deeply committed and loving relationship with the Lord. Presumably, Jesus could have prevented it. In His sovereignty, He chose not to. And it wasn't a result of their disbelief, lack of faith, or some hidden sin in their lives. And, while there are many Christians who want to immediately blame Satan for anything they perceive as "negative" happening, he is not even mentioned - by Jesus, or anyone else - in this account. I like to take my cues from Jesus. The "one He loved" was sick ... and I don't hear Him placing blame, rebuking Satan, or immediately rushing off to heal him. In fact, Jesus could have, merely by speaking the words, healed Lazarus ... and He deliberately chose not to.



© I Lift My Voice, 2015.



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