Tag Archives: sick

TRUST HIS HEART

August 30, 2021Bible Studyfor God's glory, Lazarus, sickLuella Campbell

TRUST HIS HEART

“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair). So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ When He heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may also be glorified through it.'” John 11:1-4 NIV.

Jesus was faced with something He had never experienced before. Lazarus was no stranger to Him. He was a member of a family whose home was like a second home to Him. In the past few weeks He had spent much time there, using it as a refuge from His adversaries as He moved in and out of Jerusalem before His final Passover.

There was a strong bond between this family and Jesus. Mary had expressed her faith and adoration by anointing His feet with her costliest treasure — her alabaster box of spikenard, worth an entire year’s wages in Jewish terms. Jesus must have felt comfortable in their home. He knew He was always welcome and He was always provided for when He stayed there with His disciples.

His miracles had always been done to strangers or casual acquaintances at the most, but now His beloved friend, Lazarus lay deathly sick. His illness must have been much more than a common cold since the sisters felt the need to send for Him. Jesus’ response shows us that Lazarus was dying. What was He to do? His natural response would have been to set off immediately so that He could get to him before he died.

Yet Jesus said and did something unusual. Instead of leaving for Bethany right then, He remarked to His disciples, ‘Lazarus won’t die. This is about God’s glory and mine as well.’ What did He mean? Once again, Jesus put this crisis into perspective. What appeared obvious in the circumstances was part of a much bigger picture – God’s glory – and it was Jesus’ role to act within what God was doing, not what would have been His natural inclination.

Every situation, even if it touched someone as dear to Him as Lazarus and his sisters, was no cause for panic. He had to see it from His Father’s point of view and act within the Father’s will. There was always one guiding principle that showed Jesus what to do – whatever brought the greatest glory to the Father.

When He and His disciples met a man born blind, He used it as an opportunity to reveal the Father’s mercy by restoring His sight as a sign, especially to His opponents, that it was the Father’s desire for people to have 20/20 spiritual vision by believing in Him. The miracle triggered a debate that exposed the blindness of the Jewish leaders who vehemently defended their claim that they could “see”.

Jesus was now faced with the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of His ministry. He had raised others from the dead, not recorded by John but by the other gospel writers, but never a person whose body had already been decaying for four days.

His disciples must have been puzzled by His attitude. He seemed quite casual about the sisters’ urgent message. First, He seemed confident that Lazarus would not die; then He made no effort to hurry to his bedside. What was going on?

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days, and then He said to His disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.'” John 11:5-7 NIV.

Isn’t that a strange way to show His love? Are we not also faced with the same strange response from God? We cry out to Him in our crisis and He says nothing and He does nothing! It is almost as though He deliberately turns a deaf ear. What is He doing?

God is never deaf to the cries of His beloved but, like Jesus, He sees the bigger picture. There was a great lesson for the two sisters in Jesus’ action as well as revelation of who He was that impacted them and their brother far more powerfully than healing Lazarus would have done.

He is calling us to trust Him; to trust His love, His power and His intention which is much bigger than anything we can imagine.

Acknowledgement

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

October 5, 2019Bible Studyeveryone, healed, sickLuella Campbell

EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

“When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to Him. One by one He placed His hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, ‘Son of God! You’re the Son of God!’ But He shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew Him to be the Messiah.” Luke 4:40-41.

After the initial excitement of this new prophet who said and did out-of-this-world things, they all settled into a routine. They dutifully waited until after sunset, when the Sabbath was over, before they brought their ailing friends and relatives to Him for a touch and a word.

Don’t you love the “one by one” bit? He didn’t run a mass healing campaign. ‘Everyone who is sick, come to the front. Now pray a healing prayer.’ He touched them, one by one. I can imagine that, in those few moments, when He placed His hand on a fevered brow, a diseased limb, or an aching belly, the word that He spoke was a tender expression of love, of kindness and reassurance. God was there and He was showing His people just how big His heart of compassion was for them.

Deep into the night they came, patiently waiting their turn for the Master’s touch, with a bubble of expectant excitement inside. They knew that tonight, when they put their heads down to sleep, they would be free of aches and pains and fever, and they would wake to a brand new day.

“He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking for Him and, when they found Him, clung to Him so He couldn’t go on. He told them, ‘Don’t you realise that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?’ Meanwhile He continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.” Luke 4:42-44.

A strange way to respond to a successful healing campaign, wasn’t it? At the height of success and popularity, He goes missing! Leaves town! Escapes into the country! Was Jesus suffering from “burn out”? Already? His ministry had only just started and He couldn’t take the pace?

Far from it! He knew that His commission was far bigger than a local Capernaum success campaign. He had a message to deliver and work to do that extended over the entire nation, not just to a little pocket of people in Capernaum. Excited and happy as they were and bagging Him to stay, He had to leave them and move on because others needed His message and His ministry.

So what was He actually doing? If He was not running a healing campaign, what was His purpose? Did He come to tell them that, if they accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, they would go to heaven when they died? Was that the sole purpose for His coming? The way the gospel is presented from many pulpits today, that might be what we think He came to do – to die on the cross so that we can go to heaven! Really!

Jesus was always about God’s kingdom. For too long the “liar” and “usurper” had held sway over the people and they were living with the result – emotional pain, physical distress, social and political upheaval. That was not God’s way. Jesus came to show and tell the real story about God’s rule. Get back under His rule, follow His way and things will be very different.

There was one major obstacle to becoming a part of His restoration plan – sin – the big barrier between God and man. But Jesus came to deal with that as well so that there would be nothing to stop people from returning to the Father and coming back under His rule – right in the heart of enemy territory.

But everyone needed to know, not just Nazareth – and they didn’t want to know – and Capernaum – and they couldn’t get enough. Everyone, everywhere, so they could choose. You, too.

Pigs Or People?

July 7, 2015Bible StudyGenessaret, healed, ran, recognised, sickLuella Campbell

PIGS OR PEOPLE?

When they had crossed over, they landed at Genessaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched it were healed (Mark 6: 53-56).

Genessaret again, but what a different reception this time! The pigs were forgotten. Sick people needed help and Jesus was there in person – the same Jesus they had chased away a short time before because He had driven a legion of demons out of a mad man; and they were terrified of Him as a result.

What a different story now! The healed man had done his job well. Jesus had instructed him to go home and tell his story to family and friends – and he had done just that. I don’t think he spared any details, not even the bits about his sordid lifestyle and the invasion of demons that took hold of him as a result. Demons don’t just take over a human being without invitation. He had certainly made enough bad decisions and done enough bad things to give them free entry into his life and his body. And he had paid a heavy price as a result.

After Jesus had driven the demons out, the people’s livelihood took a knock because the unclean spirits invaded their pigs and sent them careering down the steep embankment into the lake. These Gentiles had no idea who this was and what He was up to, so they got rid of Him as fast as they could, but they could not silence a free man. Wouldn’t you keep talking if you had been delivered from a living hell?

Slowly the mood began to change. The crazy-now-sane guy kept talking and didn’t go crazy again. He became the sanest person in the region. Gone were his lustful gaze at the girls, ogling and undressing each one with his eyes as they passed by, his suggestive comments, his promiscuous behaviour and his disgusting language. He was clean-living, respectful and considerate. Even his wife began to trust him again.

The change in him was permanent, so his neighbours began to realise. Something dramatic had happened to him – and it must have had something to do with the man they had sent packing when the pigs went over the cliff. The people were finally convinced and began to hope that the stranger would return. They would not send Him away this time. He had something to offer them and they needed His help.

Imagine their surprise and delight when news of His arrival spread around the region! They lost no time in rushing out to greet Him and bringing their ailing friends and family members to be healed. Before you could blink an eye, crowds had gathered from all over the region. Talk about a healing campaign! Jesus didn’t have to put up posters everywhere announcing His arrival. One man was witness enough to what He could do. His presence was there and they came.

From place to place Jesus and His disciples went – villages, towns and farms were all in it. And the people welcomed them. Never had this Gentile region, so alienated from God and from His people because they were hated and despised, and they knew it, been so blessed by the coming of the Son of God Himself! Did they know who He was? Probably not, but they were content to receive the blessing of healing and deliverance from their suffering and pain.

No doubt Jesus also taught them about the kingdom of God. After all, He was not just a miracle healer; He was God’s Messiah, sent by the Father to announce to both Jew and Gentile the good news that God was in charge. His miracles and His teaching were a testimony to His identity and they were inescapable.

The devil was there; demons were active, but not for long. An event was on the horizon so earth-shattering that even nature would writhe in pain as it happened. The Creator of the universe, the Son of the living God was soon to be killed by His own people for the sin of the world. Not only the stand-offish Jews but these Gentile pagans were also in on the deal. Jesus was there to tell them and to show them that God’s favour was about to be unleashed on them as well.

What a moment for helpless and hopeless people! They may have not understood when their kinsman was delivered from his torment. They may have sent Jesus away in their fear, but they were given a second chance and they grabbed it with both hands, thanks to the testimony of a freed man. That’s what Jesus came to do. This time they chose people over pigs!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

Indignation!

May 29, 2015Bible Study'sinners', eat, Pharisee, sick, tax collectorsLuella Campbell

INDIGNATION!

When Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’ (Mark 2: 15-17).

Oh how wrong these guys were! Their perceptions of God were so warped! And of themselves! They conveniently categorised people into “sinners” and “righteous” and, of course, you know which group they fell into. From their point of view, who were the “righteous”? They believed that they were the model of righteousness because they “kept” the law. And their “God” was pleased with them and oh, so displeased with the sinners and tax collectors.

Then Jesus comes along and turns their religion on its head. First He throws demons out and touches lepers. Then He calls all the wrong people to be His disciples. Then He forgives sin as though He were God. Worse still, now He eats with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees knew what that meant. You just don’t eat with people who come from the wrong side of town. To eat with them meant that they were buddies. They had no issues with each other. How could a man who claimed to be God be buddies with those people?

They didn’t have the guts to tackle Jesus, so they tackled His disciples instead. “Why does He eat with the likes of them? Doesn’t He know how it offends us?’ (implied), as though that were the most important consideration. What did it have to do with them anyway? He was free to eat with anyone He chose and was not answerable to them.

Jesus overheard the question and He was indignant. Before the disciples had a chance to put their foot in their mouths, He answered for Himself. He needed no one to defend Him. He didn’t even need to defend Himself but, to get their thinking straight, He put them in their place. “Who goes to the doctor? The sick or the well? I didn’t come to pat well people on the back. I came to bring healing to sick people. It’s obvious that you guys have got it all wrong. You think there’s nothing wrong with you. These people know they are sick, and I can do something for them, but not for you.”

What kind of a God was He representing? One who condoned the sinful lives of the ‘irreligious” people and condemned the ones who tried so hard to impress Him by their “good” lives? They just did not understand. What people could see about them was far more important than what went on inside. It was okay for them to be full of pride about their own achievements and full of contempt for those who didn’t measure up to their standard.

Jesus smartly put them in their place and, once again they had no answer. Round two: Jesus, one; Pharisees, nil. This was getting embarrassing. They should be learning fast that no one takes Jesus on and wins. If they knew what was good for them, they should have kept their mouths shut and their ears open but, unfortunately for them, the lesson was lost on them . . . again!

Just as much as it was embarrassing for the Pharisees, it was encouraging for the ones they despised. Jesus not only ate with the sinners, a sign that He was very comfortable with them and had nothing against them, but He actually defended what He did. It’s no wonder they flocked after Him. No one else championed them, especially not a prominent rabbi like He was.

Don’t let the lesson be lost on us either. Jesus does not condone sin, but He does not condemn the sinner. Every person, apart from what they do, has value to God because He created us in His image. Jesus came to rescue us from destroying ourselves by following our own way. He came to call sinners away from their old stubborn self-will to follow Him. He is the way to Father and He wants to take us to Him . . . whoever we are.

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

Hope In Their Hopelessness

May 23, 2015Bible Studydemon-possessed, healed, sick, sunsetLuella Campbell

HOPE IN THEIR HOPELESSNESS!

That evening after sunset, the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak because they knew who He was (Mark 1: 32-34).

What a window of opportunity for the sick and demon-possessed people of Capernaum! There was someone in town who could heal and deliver.

The town was buzzing with the news that a man had been in the synagogue that morning who had sent a harassing demon packing. Many of them had seen it happen. One minute the man was a raving lunatic and the next he was as sane as the next man. This rabbi seemed to have appeared from nowhere. He was making His mark on society from the day He was baptised by the wild prophet from the wilderness! Saying things like, “God’s kingdom is here,” and “It’s time to return to God’s way.”

Hadn’t they always been walking in God’s way? Didn’t they try to follow their religious leaders as meticulously as they could? What was this new teaching all about? And then He went and healed a sick woman without even saying anything! Never had they heard of this kind of thing before – not in their lifetime, anyhow! So what did it all mean?

One thing was for sure. He could heal, he could! That was enough for them for the moment. Strange teaching aside, there were sick people in their homes who needed healing and they cashed in on the moment. Before He could disappear out of town again, they took advantage of the few hours after sunset on the Sabbath to mob Him with their loved ones.

Nothing fazed Him. He reversed the ravages of disease and deformity with a touch or a word. And as for the demons! These guys had had a field day with God’s people – taking up residence whenever and wherever they could. The people were not aware of how dangerous it was to dabble in sin. Given half a chance, where they left the door open by allowing evil deeds or even hatred, bitterness, jealousy, promiscuousness, lust or greed to get a hold of them, the demons were in and that was it. It was far easier to let them in than to get them out.

Jesus was the man of the moment, for sure! He was mobbed by helpless, hopeless people wanting a fragment of His time to free them from their pain, their suffering and their bondage. Loved ones pushed and shoved to get near him with a wheezing baby; a suffering child, a shrunken, crippled brother, sister, mother, father; a son, a daughter burning up with fever, screaming in pain.

And He didn’t disappoint them. Didn’t He announce to them that God was back to set things right again? The devil had run the affairs of men for too long, and look at the mess he had made. God’s people had tasted what he could do. Now it was time to see what God could do.

But, best of all, the demons knew who was boss! They tried to blurt out who He was but Jesus would not allow the enemy to put in a good word for Him. It was not their place to tell the world that He was the Son of God. The people had to make up their own minds from what they saw and heard from Him, not from them. They dared not resist His eviction order. They were in enough trouble as it was, trying to make out that their boss was in charge. It worked as long as the real boss wasn’t in their faces for occupying what belonged to Him.

What a stir Jesus caused! That night, when everything had settled down again, there were many happy people in Capernaum; well people who were sick when the sun had risen; crippled, blind, deaf people who went to bed whole; crazy people who were perfectly sane; mothers and fathers who went to bed ecstatic because their baby, their child was healthy and happy again. Amazing! And all because Jesus came to town!

You sigh and wish that He would appear in your town, What if He turned up in your church on Sunday – in person? But, wait a minute. Didn’t He say that He would be with us to the end of the age? So where is He, then?

He is here, with us, nearer to us than our breath. He has never left. We are immersed in His presence like fish in water. Don’t beg Him to come. Change your awareness. Marinate in His presence because He is here with everything He is, Immanuel – God with us.