The most important attitude that we can impart to someone who is
sick or troubled in life is simply, our own hope. Proverbs 18:14 says this
concerning someone who is sick or has a crushed spirit, “The human spirit can
endure a sick body, but who can bear it if the spirit is crushed? Romans 15:13
says this about hope, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.
God’s Word teaches us that hope is something that we cannot see but it’s
biblical foundation in reflects that our faith is in God and not our
circumstances. Hope then is the antidote for despair. By far the most important
hope that we can have is the "hope of eternal life" Titus 1:2; 3:7.
For the child of God, our faith and hope for life after death, death is not
terrifying to us and we can look beyond the circumstances of today, to the day
when God will "transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His
glorious body" Philippians 3:21 and according to Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith
is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”, it is
our faith that enables us to have hope. Acts of kindness is a another way to
encourage someone who may be sick or downhearted as in Acts 2:42, “ They spent
their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and
sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers”. The early Christians can be
our role model. Bringing someone in need prepared food, praying with them,
reading the Bible to them and sharing good conversation are all very
encouraging.
Another way to encourage them is to remind them not to focus on
the future of all the, “what ifs” and “maybes”, but to stay focused on today,
moment by moment seeking God for their healing and the will of God to be
revealed to them through their situation. Matthew 6:33-34 tells us this,
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble." Jesus Himself, said not to worry about the future! In a sense,
we are all terminal beings, no one lives forever and everyone has trials and
tribulations. How many days we live is not nearly as important as the kind of
life we live each day. Encourage them to focus on today, doing the right things
and making the best decisions that they can. Make the best of the time they
have and make each day the best it can be. God designed each of us with a kind
of survival instinct. As long as we maintains that attitude, doctors tell us
that our “will to live” will help us approach each new day to live longer and our body's defense system will naturally work
better.
The book of Job teaches many lessons, including what not to assume or
say if we want to encourage someone. Job's suffering was so devastating it is
hard to imagine. Satan killed all of his children and most of his servants and
caused him to lose all his possessions. Later he was personally afflicted with
a terrible disease that caused painful boils all over his body. Of all Job's
supposed friends, it appears that only three and a fourth one later on in the
story, cared enough to visit Job and spend considerable time with him to
"mourn with him, and to comfort him" in Job 2:11. But Job
understandably complained that they were "miserable comforters" in
16:2 and said, "How long will you torment my soul, and break me in pieces
with words?" in 19:2. These three friends seemingly had good intentions to
give comfort and advice to Job, but they had mistakenly assumed that Job's
suffering was God's punishment for disobeying His laws. They also assumed in
their wrong theology, that God always rewards good and punishes evil in this
life, with no exceptions. They saw no purpose for suffering other than
retribution and punishment. So in spite of their possible good intentions,
Job's three friends primarily gave him added mental and emotional distress. So I
would conclude that we should always, be very careful before we try and analyze
someone’s illness.
The Bible has much to say about the power of our words. It's
sad that Job's friends were using their words to discourage instead of
encourage. Health problems can hinder us and cause us great stress, generating
intense emotions such as discouragement, fear, loneliness, anger or depression.
As an encourager we would do well to remember these scripture passages,
"The tongue of the wise promotes health" according to
Proverbs 12:18 and, "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life" Proverbs
15:4 and 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 18; 5:11, But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write
to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another…Therefore comfort
one another with these words…Therefore comfort each other and edify build up,
help one another, just as you also are doing.
-Bren
