I’m Aching All Over Because I Overexerted Myself While out of Shape. Can I Claim Healing?
You are not sick. You’re sore because you violated natural laws by pushing your body too far. God gave you a mortal body and you are expected to use wisdom in how you take care of it. If you sit on your couch all day and then suddenly decide to enter a marathon for the fun of it, you will hurt big time when you get done (if you even finish). The devil did not put these hurts on you, nor did you get them through the “curse of the Law.”
I don’t want to minimize God’s mercy; you can still ask God for mercy in such a situation. However, that is what it is – mercy! Thank God, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), mercy follows you all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6), and God crowns you with tender mercies (Psalm 103:4). His mercy endures forever. (That is said in so many different places I won’t list them all here!)
Even fools who sinned and got sick, and it was their own fault, could get healed (Psalm 107:17-20). Overexertion was your fault, but to be consistent with that passage, God sent His Word to heal you too!
However, you should realize that there is no biblical case of someone overexerting himself and receiving an instant healing that made everything okay all of a sudden. There IS a biblical case of someone who overexerted himself and stayed sick for a while – Epaphroditus! See Philippians 2:25-30. Fortunately, God in His mercy did heal Epaphroditus, and Paul called it mercy. However, the just should live by faith, not by mercy.
Don’t overwork yourself and claim healing scriptures while so doing, thinking that it will spare you any physical trouble. It won’t. If you get three hours of sleep a night for a week, you will pay for it physically, healing scriptures or no healing scriptures. It is no different from deliberately jumping off your roof, quoting healing scriptures all the way down. Thank God, Jesus did not jump off the temple when the devil tempted Him to “believe” Psalm 91 and do so. Remember Jesus’ answer – you shall not tempt the Lord your God (by putting Him to a foolish test).
I’ve observed that Christians who are actively seeking God’s kingdom seem to fare much better than they “should” sometimes given their care (or neglect) of their bodies. Epaphroditus was an example. However, that doesn’t mean we should keep presuming on God’s grace if we’re doing things we know better than to do.
Over the long term, all other things being equal, fat people TEND to have a lot more heart attacks, clogged arteries, shortness of breath, and so on. Smokers tend to get more cancer. Heavy drinkers have more liver trouble. That’s just how physical laws operate. You cannot pig out for years and then claim healing from every problem (shortness of breath, lethargy, or whatever) that is a direct result of overeating. God has still paid for your healing even if you “did it to yourself,” but if you want to stop needing healing, consider losing weight! It is amazing that people literally kill themselves in various ways, even while quoting healing scriptures! That is like asking God to bail out your boat while you are busy drilling new holes in the bottom of it.
We can’t get legalistic and state what Body Mass Index a Christian should have; after all, Jesus never corrected anyone’s diet. I’m just saying that our choices can result in more or fewer needs for healing. Healing still belongs to everyone, including people who do things to themselves, but it would be better not to do things to yourself and not need healing in the first place.
As I say, I am for and not against doctors. Your doctor may be able to give you valuable advice on how you can lengthen your life through natural means. God will preserve your life from things you can’t prevent through natural means, which would include a large number of diseases, as you trust Him to honor His Word. However, it is presumption to continue to knowingly make unwise choices and keep coming for healing. If you have been unwise, repent of what you’re doing to yourself and trust God for the strength to make wiser choices.
This would be a good time to read the related topic below.
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