~ TRUSTING GOD IN PHYSICAL AFFLICTION
Beloved, we don’t have to look far before we see people around us who are physically afflicted. Children, Elderly, maybe family members, friends or even ourselves.
This subject is close to home, because of the physical affliction that I personally experience on a daily basis for over 25 years.
For those of us believers who suffer from physical afflictions, we may be tempted to ask the question; Is God truly sovereign over the diseases and physical infirmities that so frequently afflict us? The answer is a resounding Yes!
When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses protested his inadequacy, including the fact that he was slow of speech. God’s reply to Moses is instructive:
In Exodus 4:11 AMP, The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, or the seeing or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
Here God specifically ascribes to His own work the physical afflictions of deafness, muteness, and blindness. These physical afflictions are not merely the products of defective genes or birth accidents; behind them all is the sovereign purpose of God.
When asked about a man blind from birth, Jesus replied, “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3, NIV).
This God of deafness, muteness, and blindness is also the God of cancer, arthritis, Down syndrome, and all other such afflictions that strike us. None of them “just happen”; they’re all within the sovereign will of God.
The previous statement immediately brings us into the problem of pain and suffering. Why does a sovereign God who loves us allow such pain and heartache? We know that the ultimate cause of all pain and suffering can be traced back to the sin of Adam and its effect on all creation as part of God’s determined response to man’s sin. (see Romans 8:20). The sovereign God who subjected creation to frustration still rules over that creation, pain and all.
We can also find assurance in the fact that God does not willingly bring affliction or grief our way. He has no delight in our experience of pain or heartache.
Lamentations 3:32-33 AMP tells us “For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy. For He does not afflict willingly and from His heart Or grieve the children of men.”
God always has a purpose for the grief He allows into our lives. Most often we don’t know what that purpose is, but it’s enough to know that His infinite wisdom and perfect love have determined that this particular sorrow is best for us.
God never wastes pain; He always uses it to accomplish His purpose. And His purpose is for His glory and our good.
Therefore, we can trust Him when our hearts are aching or our bodies are racked with pain. This is what I had to do with my personal physical pain. In fact, I can honestly testify that God used my pain to draw me closer to Him. He used my pain to grow me spiritually.
Trusting God in the midst of pain and heartache means that we actually accept these things from Him. This is different from mere resignation. We can resign ourselves to a difficult situation simply because we see no other alternative. People do that all the time. Or we can submit to God’s sovereignty in our circumstances.
But to truly accept pain and heartache includes our willingness. An attitude of acceptance says, “I trust God, knowing He loves me and gives only what’s best for me.”
Acceptance doesn’t mean we don’t pray for healing or for relief from physical problems. We should indeed pray for such things, but we should pray in a trusting way. We should realize that though God can do all things—for infinitely wise and loving reasons—He may not do what we ask Him to do. So we keep praying, as long as we can do so trustingly, with an attitude of acceptance of His will.
(Ref: Trusting God Even when life hurts, Jerry Bridges)
NOW LET US PRAY
Great and merciful God, thank You for Your sovereignty over our physical pain and suffering. Personally, there were times when the pain is so severe in my body, but I trust You, Lord to heal me as only You can, according to Your will, not mine. I pray that everyone else experiencing physical pain will be given the grace to trust You in Your sovereignty over their suffering as well. Thank You for sustaining us through the physical pain. In Jesus’ mighty name, I pray. Amen 
Have a blessed day 
