FIVE SUFFERING LAWS

By Charles Swindoll

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
When it comes to physical healing, often confusion reigns. To combat it, I’d like to point out five “laws” of suffering. These “laws” will do more to help the hurting and erase their confusion than perhaps anything else they could read.

Law One: There are two classifications of sin.
1. Original sin . . . the inherited sin nature traceable to Adam, original "head" of the human race (Romans 5:12a).
2. Personal sins . . . individual acts of wrong we regularly commit (Romans 3:23).
Because we all have an inherited sin nature (the root), we commit sins (the fruit).

Law Two: Original sin introduced suffering, illness, and death to the human race (Romans 5:12b).
Had there never been the presence of original sin in the Garden of Eden, mankind would never have known sickness or death. In the broadest sense of the word, all sickness and suffering today are the result of original sin. Literally, the Lord told Adam "in the day that you eat from it, dying you will die" (Genesis 2:17).

Law Three: Sometimes there is a direct relationship between personal sins and sickness.
David testified of such in Psalm 32:3-5 and 38:3-5. Paul warned that some of the Corinthian believers were "weak and sick" and a number of them were dead
(1 Corinthians 11:27-30) because they were sinning.

Law Four: Sometimes there is no relationship between personal sins and sickness.
Some are born with afflictions---suffering before they ever reach the age of committing sins (John 9:1-3; Acts 3:1-2). Others, like Job (1:1-5), are living upright lives when suffering occurs. Jesus Himself "sympathizes with our weaknesses" (Hebrews 4:15) rather than rebuking us because we have sinned. Remember, "although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus never committed sins, yet He suffered. .

Law Five: It is not God’s will that everyone be healed in this life.
Those who believe it is invariably support their convictions with the words of Isaiah:
By His scourging we are healed. (53:5b)
The whole flow of thought in the fifty-third chapter has to do with the inner, spiritual needs of humanity and Christ’s priceless provision. That is why He was wounded and bruised. That is why He died . . . not to heal sick people but to give life to dead ones.

Every time healing happens, God has done it. It occurs daily. Occasionally it is miraculous. More often, it is aided by proper diagnosis, expert medical care, essential medicinal assistance, plus common sense. No hocus pocus. No mumbo jumbo. No hot-shot carnal circus. When God heals there is no way humans can grab the glory.