Why is There Sickness?

Days after returning from Cambodia, I am now in my second full day of being the guest speaker at Camp Kedron, a holiday camp for primary students years 3 to 6 with a strong Christian emphasis.  Today the kids and leaders have gone on an excursion to a local beach, and it is the perfect opportunity to catch up with email and prepare future messages.  It has already been a huge blessing and a lot of fun.  The leaders and directors put in so much effort with amazing activities and seek to make every kid feel included.

One of my favourite times has been the discussion groups after main sessions.  During those times each cabin groups meets together and everyone is invited to talk about the session, God, or about life in general.  I sneak in like a "fly-on-the-wall" to take in the discussion and contribute if appropriate.  There have been many excellent, honest questions among the smattering of chaff.  God has placed an incredible, almost insatiable desire in the human heart and mind to discover and learn.  These kids are hungry for answers to questions that even aged people long to look into.

A compelling question was asked yesterday:  "Why does God allow disease or cancer?  Why does God let people die?"  During my trip to Cambodia, I saw many cases of sickness, conditions requiring surgery for correction, or advanced tooth decay.  Two boys in different villages came seeking medical care who had abdominal hernias.  Fixing a hernia through surgery is relatively simple, but these little kids had no access to surgeons.  They lived far away from hospitals and likely did not have the cash to pay for surgery.  It is a real possibility they will live with this condition for many years to come.  It was no doubt hard for the doctors in our clinics to send away desperate children who have conditions beyond our power to fix.  The good thing is that God is not limited in awareness or ability like people are.  It took me going to Cambodia to for me to meet two little boys who had hernias, but God already knew.  He also knows about the millions of children throughout the globe who carry with them pains, cancers, and life-threatening conditions.  Glory to God that He has the power to heal too!

The answer to this difficult question is found in the scripture.  When we see sickness, sorrow, pain, cancers, and death on earth, it is the fruit of the curse of sin.  God created the earth to be perfect and made Adam without sin.  Yet Adam deliberately chose to rebel from God in disobedience.  Romans 5:12 tells us that by one man sin entered the world, and death through sin.  Sin and death therefore have passed to all men.  All sickness, sorrow, and disease - all the things that lead to death and ultimately separation from God - is all a result of sin.  Sin not only kills the body but the soul in hell.  In God's wisdom He has seen fit to allow the side-effects of sin to remain so we might personally recognise our need for salvation.  Even those who have been born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ still experience the effects of sin in our flesh.  All sickness, disease, sorrow, and pain is just a foretaste of the dregs of the damnable curse under which we operate in the flesh.  C.S. Lewis is credited with saying, "Pain is God's megaphone," and there are few things which better bring us to our senses.  When we see people sick or face illness ourselves, it affirms the Bible's claim that sin and death have passed to all men.  If we ask, "Why does God allow sickness and death?" we must also ask, "Why does God allow people to live?"  It is all of love and grace, and sometimes in a clever disguise.  Only by faith in God according to knowledge through the scriptures do we find answers which satisfy our souls.

The day is coming when God will make all things right.  We read in Revelation 21:3-5:  "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. [4] And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:  for the former things are passed away.  [5] And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.  And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful."  In Christ we find the only means of life, healing, and salvation.  I don't know about you, but I look forward to this day of which God speaks:  a day when all things will be made new.  No more crying, no more death, no more sorrow, no more hernias, poverty, shame, and pain.  Worship the One who makes all things new!