Does God make people sick?

I used to think that because Jesus healed the sick pretty much everywhere he went, that God did not like sickness and would never put sickness on anybody. However, as I kept reading the Bible and growing in my understanding of the character and ways of God, I started to see differently. Romans 15:4 says “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Even though it is clear in Scripture that God heals and that He is a Healer, I would be lying and rejecting scripture in the Old Testament and New Testament, if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that God uses sickness as a means of punishment and as a display of what happens when God is not on your side due to your disobedience.

In the Old Testament, we see how people were punished by God with sicknesses, fevers, and even death. As a matter of fact, due to the first sin from humankind against God’s commands, God cursed mankind, including worst labor pains for women during childbirth. When you read Exodus and see how badly God wanted to deliver His people, Israel, you will see that God wanted to continue hardening the heart of pharaoh against Israel so that He would be forced to continue performing signs and sending plagues to Egypt. Animals were killed, people were made ill, people were killed, and all of the nation’s first-born sons were killed at the hand of God.

Deuteronomy 28:20-22 says “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.”

Genesis 3:16 states “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”

1 Corinthians 10:6-15 says “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.”

In the New Testament, Jesus healed a man, but after He did so, He warned him to stop living in sin so that something worse wouldn’t come upon him. He was clearly speaking of an illness because that’s what He had just got done healing him from. In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul warns the church that if they continue going to church and taking the Lord’s supper with the wrong heart and motives that people were going to continue getting sick and even dying from not honoring the Lord’s body properly. In the book of Acts, by the Holy Spirit’s leading, Peter spoke the death of Ananias and his wife Sapphira because of sin.

In 1 Corinthians 11:27-32, the Apostle Paul states “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

Acts 5:1-11 says “But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you[a] sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.”But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”

It is so important for us Christians to fear God. We must live our lives knowing that He is watching us and that He is the type of God who doesn’t play around, even though He is very merciful and loving. The word of God tells us that God disciplines and punishes those that He Loves, so punishment does not mean that God is not loving still. After all, He has been very patient with us and even sent His only son to die a horrible death because of our sins, not His. We must have the fear of God, knowing that if we disobey Him, He has all right to discipline us with consequences for our evil. After all, He is the only God, the creator of all things, including us. He has all the right and authority to tell us what to do and to punish us when we disobey Him. Not only this, but if we live a life of disobedience against God, the worst punishment of all awaits us, the punishment of eternity in the lake of fire and sulfur, where we will be tormented according to God’s will for the wicked.

I hope that this biblical perspective on sickness and God helps you understand how serious it is to not be on God’s good side. There are several other scriptures and passages that I can quote about God making people sick and even killing them because of their sin and disobedience, but I don’t think that’s necessary if you take the scriptures that I already quoted seriously enough. Let’s continue growing in Christ by thinking and living according to scripture. Let’s fear God and His wrath that comes upon the disobedient.

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