God & Health
Proverbs 3:7-8—Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Health has been quite the hot-button topic lately (understatement of the year???). Worldwide, our attention has been focused on health to one degree or another for nearly a year now. But what does God have to say about your health? A few weeks ago, I read a comment posted on social media which went something like this: “My God doesn’t want me to be sick!”
I read that and I wondered, “Hmmm, and on what page of Scripture is that promise?” Do a word search in the NIV, and you’ll find that the word “health” only comes up in that translation 22 times. More often than not, it’s a reference to poor health, someone wishing good health on someone else, or spiritual health. God has very little to say about your physical health here on earth. Yes, he tells you to take care of your body and honor it as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Yes, the Apostle Paul encouraged young pastor Timothy to drink a little wine once in a while for his health (1 Tim. 5:23). But God says very little about your physical health. In fact, most of what he has to say is how our bodies are subject to pain, disease, weakness, and death in this world. God reminds us in his Word that true and lasting health and healing will be found only in eternity within the walls of heaven (Rev. 21:4).
Through the pen of the wisest man who ever lived or shall live—Solomon—God spoke these words: Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
What does this mean? It means that wherever you stand in the spectrum of thought or opinion regarding health, COVID, vaccines, exercise & supplements, prescriptions & pills . . . be careful not to put your trust, confidence, and hope of health, even perfect health, in your abilities, your methods, clever scientists, or caring doctors. That would be to be wise in your own eyes. Rather, the wisest man who ever lived encourages you to fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
To fear the LORD is to put your trust first and foremost in the LORD who gave his only Son for you. While God doesn’t have a whole lot to say about the health of your body, he has a whole lot to say about the health of your soul. That’s why he gave his Son for you in the first place. By nature you could not, nor had any desire, to shun the disease of evil and sin. In fact, you welcomed it with open arms even though the proof that it will kill you without exception has been self-evident since Cain killed Abel. Jesus came and lived in perfect spiritual health for you all his life. Then, he took the curse of spiritual death as his own as he suffered on the cross for your spiritual death and all its deadly symptoms of sin.
So, in a way, you could say that social media poster was right, that is, if they were talking about spiritual health, which they were not. Your God does not want you to be sick—spiritually sick. And he has provided the perfect healing through the forgiveness of sins, righteousness of Christ, and everlasting life in heaven through the gift of faith in Christ Jesus your Lord. It is with this gift and with this knowledge that God brings health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
You might say, “That’s a bunch of hogwash wishful thinking. Even those who believe in Jesus still contract communicable diseases and suffer from cancer!” And, you’re right. But I’ve seen in my years of ministry and in my own life the reality of these words spoken by our LORD through the pen of Solomon. I’ve seen how the fear [of] the LORD and shun[ning of] evil…bring health to [the] body and nourishment to [the] bones. It’s seen in the peace-filled confidence in the heart of the child of God, one even riddled with cancer, that looks at the pain they are suffering as nothing compared to the joy and glory awaiting them in heaven (Rom. 8:18). I’ve witnessed the power of the Gospel relieve someone physically, if only for a time, because their eyes and hearts were focused on Jesus and being with him in heaven, experiencing perfect relief of body and soul.
So remember, wherever you stand in the world’s ways and your own wisdom regarding health, make sure that the fear [of] the LORD and shun[ning of] evil keeps its rightful place and rule in your heart and life. For then, and only then, will you have health [for] your body and nourishment [for] your bones both now and eternally.