Objection: Sickness Is a Blessing in Disguise
This has to be the king of “false comfort” bromides for the sick.
Nothing in Scripture indicates that God disguises His blessings. If something looks like a curse, it’s because it IS a curse, not a curse disguised as a blessing. The Bible describes sickness as captivity (Job 42:10), bondage (Luke 13:16), oppression (Acts 10:38), evil (Deuteronomy 7:15) and a curse (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Sickness is NEVER referred to as a blessing of any kind, with or without a disguise. I realize that God can work things for good in bad circumstances, but that does not make Him the author of the bad circumstances. It definitely doesn’t mean that it was God’s will for the bad circumstances to happen.
I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who REALLY believes that being sick is a blessing. I doubt that you do, because you’re probably using drugs and doctors to alleviate your “blessing.” If you REALLY think that sickness is a blessing, you should to go a sick person’s trash bin and stuff all his Kleenex in your mouth to attempt to get an increased blessing for yourself. If you REALLY think sickness is a blessing, you would never want to resort to any natural measures to take away this wonderful blessing. Instead of taking things to make yourself feel better, why not go eat some poison sumac to make yourself even sicker and increase your blessing-in-disguise level still more?
If sickness is good, they should be selling products that are guaranteed to make you sick so that you can be in on this good thing if you’re currently missing out on it. Can’t you see it now? “Infirmium caplets combine a histamine, a congestant, a throat irritant and a depressant to ensure a maximum illness experience. Take Infirmium, especially if you’re allergic to Infirmium, and start feeling rotten in less than half an hour!”
If sickness is a blessing in disguise, then Jesus went about doing BAD, REMOVING people’s blessings every chance He could! The disciples and the people in Acts followed suit. Jesus only did the will of God, so His removal of sickness was ALWAYS God’s will. You never see Jesus, who is the same today as He was in the four gospels (Hebrews 13:8) ever telling someone, “Keep your sickness – it’s really a blessing in disguise, and it’s good for you!” Only deceived religious people think that sickness is good for you.
If sickness is a blessing, there should be sickness in heaven! And there isn’t.
If you’re still not convinced, what particular BLESSING is sickness to you? You can choose various additional objection replies to suit your answer:
Objection: God Works All Things for Good (Romans 8:28); This Includes Sickness
Objection: Bodily Suffering Helps You Avoid Sin (1 Peter 4:1)
Objection: If You Suffer More in This Life, You Get a Greater Reward in Heaven
Objection: David Said That It Was GOOD That He Was Afflicted; So It Can Be with Us
Objection: We Should Be Grateful for Illness That Throws Us into the Arms of Jesus
Objection: God Uses Sickness to Teach You Things
Objection: Sickness, While Unpleasant, Is Used by God to Build Character
Objection: God Uses Sickness to Draw Us Closer to Himself
Objection: The Lord Puts Us on Our Backs That He May Teach Us to Look Up
Objection: Our Sickness, Disease and Illnesses Keep Us Dependent upon God
Objection: Everything Happens for a Reason
Objection: My Trials Only Come to Make Me Strong
Objection: The Crosses in Life Must Precede the Crowns
Objection: If God ALLOWS Sickness, He Must Have a Purpose for It
Objection: God Gives Us More Than We Can Handle to Make Us, Like Paul, Rely on Him, Not on Ourselves (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Objection: Sometimes God Wants You to Be Afflicted So That You Can Empathize, Not Just Sympathize, with Others Who Are Afflicted