Objection: We Are Supposed to Thank God for Everything, Which Would Include Sickness (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
1 Thessalonians 5:18:
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Ephesians 5:20:
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
You cannot thank God for everything because not everything comes from God! Sickness comes from the devil. You can’t thank God for something that comes from the devil! But you can thank God in everything. Why can you thank God in sickness? Because you know that by Jesus’ stripes, you were healed (1 Peter 2:24)! You know that God is your Physician (Exodus 15:25-26). You know that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). You know that you always have the victory in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57, 2 Corinthians 2:14). So thank God for these things!
God didn’t just say to give thanks for all things – He said to give thanks to the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It should be obvious from that statement that “all things” means “all things that your Father gave you.” If your brother gives you a present for Christmas, do you thank your uncle for giving it to you? It is just as illogical to thank God for giving you something that the devil gave you.
Books have been written suggesting that you literally thank God for everything, regardless of the source of these things. They are out of balance. Thank God for the victory, not for something that He didn’t send your way in the first place. Don’t even thank God for the “privilege” of enduring sickness! Thank God that you don’t have to endure it. Rather than asking for grace to live with it, thank God that you can live without it because of the grace that He has already given you! Thank God that you always have the victory in Christ! Keep thanking God for all that He gives you, but never thank God for something that comes from the devil. That is just bad manners. Would you like it if someone thanked you for giving him a cold when you didn’t give him the cold? Why should God like that any better than you would?
You never see a verse where Jesus told a sick person to THANK GOD for the oppression of the devil that was going on in that person’s body. Jesus thanked God for His food, but He never thanked God that the devil had made someone sick. Everything the devil does is anti-God, so it makes NO SENSE to thank God for the actions of a being who does nothing but oppose God.
God will not be THANKING the devil for sending sickness on anyone – He will be PUNISHING the devil for doing it. If God isn’t grateful for sickness, you shouldn’t be grateful for it either. Instead, be grateful that Jesus has provided healing for it!