God is NOT punishing you when you’re suffering so you can relax. There is nothing the enemy wants more than for us to see God as angry and distant, cursing us with sickness and disease.
By reading this post, you’ll give yourself a break for any wrong-doing as you realise just how impossible it is for God to punish you.
And I’ll suggest 6 pieces of evidence from Scripture proving God is not the cause of your suffering.
I completely get why some may think this, when we read of God punishing sin so severely in the Old Testament, even visiting people’s sins to the third and fourth generations!
When I was a child, I just loved the story of Jonah and the Whale. The excitement and thrill that God would send a large fish to swallow someone whole.
In the mind of a child, being in a whale’s tummy was the worst thing that could ever happen! Surely this was punishment?
As an adult, I see that the whale was saving Jonah and not a punishment for disobedience.
Depending upon your beliefs or upbringing, there may be an unconscious part of you that wonders if God is punishing you.
Perhaps you consider yourself to be ‘in the whale’s tummy’ and God is the only one to deliver you.
“IS GOD PUNISHING ME WITH SICKNESS?”
Perhaps you have no explanation as to why you’re unwell, not even from doctors. II’m sure you’re praying and praying but nothing is changing.
Are you going through every sin in the book, repenting for everything you’ve ever done wrong, just in case God was punishing you after all.
When we’re hurting we don’t think rationally. We say and think things that in our right minds we wouldn’t. It’s a coping mechanism.
The rational part of our brain switches off and our emotional brain comes online.
‘God why are you doing this to me?….’
So how do we know that God isn’t punishing us with sickness? Here’s what I believe:
1. YOU ARE FORGIVEN SO GOD CAN’T GIVE YOU AN ILLNESS
You may be living with a condition that has plagued your family down through the generations which confirms your belief that this is a generational curse.
In the Old Testament, God ‘will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Ex 34:7
But this is before the Cross. In the New Testament, God forgives us completely.
Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
Heb 10:17
We must rightly divide the Word. God punished the sins of the fathers before Jesus died.
The sins of your ancestors cannot curse you anymore. If you’re ill in your mind or body, the sins of your ancestors is not the cause.
You and I are forgiven for our past, present and future sins. God isn’t punishing you.
See IS SIN CONSCIOUSNESS HINDERING YOUR HEALING?
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24
In the New Covenant, God cannot judge or punish us. We are resurrected from death (the old life) into life (in Christ).
If we believe that He punishes us (at all), then it devalues Jesus death, and in effect Jesus died for nothing.
We would never accuse God of making us sin, so why would we accuse Him of making us sick? It makes no sense.
2. THE LAW OF DOUBLE JEOPARDY: JESUS WAS PUNISHED INSTEAD OF US
In the Old Testament, the Law curses everyone. If you broke one commandment, you broke them all. God punished disobedience.
Thankfully we’re living post Cross so God can’t curse us with an illness because Jesus was punished instead of us.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” ),
Gal 3:13
It’s impossible for God to punish you today: Joseph Prince talks of the law of double jeopardy. God cannot punish the same crime twice.
Think about it. Jesus died for our healing, so why would he cause you to be sick? It is the enemy who kills, steals and destroys.
3. JESUS IS A HEALER SO WHY WOULD GOD MAKE YOU SICK?
We read in the Gospels of Jesus healing all who came to Him. If this is the case, why would he be healing them if God caused the sickness in the first place?
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38
This verse suggests that it is the devil who oppresses people with sickness, not God. Jesus is the answer to sickness, not the author.
4. GOD IS YOUR PERFECT FATHER, NOT AN ABUSER
Maybe you think that God is teaching you something?
In a way, this is very similar to believing that God causes illness. Think about it, if we believe he is delaying our healing until we learn something, then we’re accusing God of abusing His power.
Now, as we journey through illness, we no doubt will learn many things: perseverance, hope, how to increase in faith, how to apply Scripture…..the list is pretty inexhaustive.
But these learnings are a consequence of the journey, a by-product if you like.
It’s unfair to claim that God is delaying the healing until you’ve learnt these things. It makes him sound like some kind of tyrant.
The Bible tells us that God is our Perfect Father. What kind of Father would delay a significant blessing until his child learns something?
5. GOD HAS A GOOD PLAN
The famous verse in Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God’s plan is to prosper and not harm us. Surely sickness contradicts this? Sickness does harm us so how can it be from God?
If you believe that God wants you sick or is keeping you sick, then why go to the doctor? why pray about your situation? why take medicine?
I know of a woman who really believes that her chronic pain keeps her humble and causes her to rely on God. She also believes this is why God won’t take it away.
This is sad.
6. GOD CHASTISES (NOT PUNISHES)
My understanding of God’s chastening is that this is synonymous with instructing or correcting, not punishment.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16
If you’ve raised children, there were times when you needed to show your children right and wrong, for their own benefit, or you may teach them that their actions have consequences.
But God does not use sickness to discipline us. Remember, Jesus carried our sickness.
He usually disciplines us through the Word of God. Let’s say you’re believing a lie, then through reading and studying the Word, you have a revelation and you begin to think differently.
That’s correction from God.
He wants you well more than you do. He sent Jesus to take your sickness to the cross, that’s how much He loves you and wants to heal.
So next time, you’re in a state of distress, or in a fit of anger, remember that everything in this world will tell you God doesn’t love you or that He is responsible for your illness somehow.
If that’s not bad enough, even Christians will convince you that God is waiting for you to sort something out before He heals you.
Have you ever thought that God is withholding healing or punishing you with sickness? or responsible for your ill-health in any way? How has this post helped?
There is nothing wrong with you. You’re doing really well, God often shows us the next step on our journey. Trust Him.
God bless you today,
Lorna
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