Constantly tested?

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (Exodus 15:22–26)

This bout with illness, rare for me, has raised a question to the Lord. Why me? Why this? And today His Word suggests an answer, a very sobering one. He reminds me that when the OT saints were released from bondage in Egypt, they went through a long period of testing to see if they would obey their Deliverer. He connected that testing to their health as the above passage shows. In other words, obedience means well-being and sickness means something is not being done as it should.

A fuller description comes in a much longer passage that details this spiritual principle:

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land… and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full… then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God… Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power…(Deuteronomy 8:1–20)

The result of their failures was that they would not enter the good land. I can see that this promise with its testing is a partial answer for my questions about being sick. Not only was the enemy trying to stop me from praying, but God was showing me that my desire to pray has far too much relationship on how good I feel. Being sick stopped my obedience or rather, failure to obey with my whole heart had an effect on my health. 

Years algo, I read a book written by a doctor and called “None of These Diseases”. He connected the emotional and other negative results of sin to their effects on our physical bodies. Stress of that sort produces illness. Getting lax or becoming proud of my prayer life is sin for it does not honor God. Not only that, when not feeling well, I stopped praying. No wonder it is taking so much time to get better.

Lord Jesus, I recognize the lack of zeal that You have exposed and confess it as one of those “practice what I preach” issues that are so easy to ignore when life becomes challenging in other ways. For me, the gap between knowing the truth and doing what I know trips me up far too easily as I’ve been ill. I need You more than ever to keep sincere prayer happening, not as a duty but as obedience to Your Holy Spirit, no matter the excuses. Your tests and disciplines do not always feel good but I can see the importance, not just for my health but that You are glorified when You hear and answer the prayers of an obedient little child, and not the whining of one who isn’t too happy about their health.