Well you write an article about Thanksgiving and then you get to find out if you really do mean it. Starting early Monday morning around 1:00 a.m I must have picked up some kind of virus or something. We won't get into the details but IT WAS BAD there was a lot of ugly things going on for the next couple of days. Wednesday at about 8:00 p.m. I finally ate something. I mean it, I didn't eat a thing until that night.
I don't know about you but when I get sick my mind sometimes goes into full gear. (Even though it might be at a whole lot slower of a rate then normal.) So for me there are always the lessons that the Lord seems to be teaching me.
1. MY SICKNESS WILL NEVER BE AS BAD AS OTHERS. When I begin to "feel like" I am about to "die." ( In the words of my wife, "such a drama queen.") I am always reminded of so many people that are truly sick and are suffering so much. My temporary illness is nothing when I compare it to the suffering of others who live constantly in pain.
2. DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS. Without asking my wife or my girls for help they were there giving of themselves to me. They wound up showing their servant-hood towards me without even being asked. I needed them.
I want to be one of those John Wayne types when it comes to sickness. (You know what I mean, that even though you have been shot at least 3 times, kicked and beaten to a bloody pulp and even bit by the bad guys dog you immediately get up and kill all the bad guys on your own. KILL THEM ALL.) I think though that during our sicknesses we learn the real lesson of life. We truly need someone to lean on. I need to humble myself. There are no John Wayne's in the spiritual realm. In the same way with my sin sick life I need to call out to the Savior and acknowledge my need of Him and my total dependence.
3. A FEELING OF BEING CUT OFF. During those days that I laid around in bed our pastor had one of his daughters and son-in-law come in for a visit. At a gathering at the church on Tuesday night many of our church family got to see them. I felt so bad. I truly did want to see them but my virus was still acting up and I did not want to be the life of the party and share my special gift with them. So I missed them and had to stay at home. Bummer!!
I felt like the guys in Leviticus who when they got leprosy shouted out UNCLEAN and kept themselves away from others. (Now please be careful here, I do not believe that every time a person gets sick is because of sin. God sometimes allows the sweetest of saints to suffer greatly. John 9:2-4 and Job are great teachings in this area.) I am reminded though, of how my sin separates me from God in the area of salvation. Rom. 3:23 and Rom. 6:23. I am also reminded of how my sin affects my fellowship with God as well in I John. My sin also gives that feeling of being cut off from my brothers and sisters. I want restoration. I want to be whole again.
4. YOUR FEEL LIKE A ZOMBIE. You are trying to just go on with life and yet everything you do seems to be in slow motion. You know something isn't right because you are in such pain. (Yeah, just like the zombie movies you feel as though you have half of your side gone. You also know that you have one of those kitchen butcher knives in your skull.) In our years before we knew Christ this was an absolute truth we were like the walking dead. Ephesians 2:1-3 We could not think or even act rightly and were truly enemies against God.
5. YOU PRAY THAT IT WILL JUST END. I don't know but after several hours of throwing up I just wanted it to end. I wanted to get better.What a relief when it finally broke.
I have no idea what it must be like to be sick 24/7 and there is no cure in sight. No wonder so many of our brothers and sisters just want the Lord to take them home. No more pain, no more sorrow. This is not an unpleasant thought at all for those of us who are believers. We know that Heaven is real and that there is truly a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope at the end of the day.
As a believer I know that one day my sin sickness will be gone. That one day I shall see Him face to face, delivered from my sin, my selfishness and my sin sick ways I shall behold Him and truly see Him for who He is.
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