This is a difficult question that many believers wrestle with at some point in their walk with God. On one hand, we know that sickness and suffering entered the world through the Fall in Genesis 3. Disease and illness are not part of God’s original perfect creation. The Bible tells us that Satan inflicts affliction, not God (Luke 13:16). So it seems clear that it is not God’s desire for people to be sick.
On the other hand, there are examples in the Bible where God either causes or allows illness and disability for His divine purposes. In John 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter a man blind from birth. The disciples assume the man or his parents sinned to cause his blindness. But Jesus refutes this and says it happened “that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). God allowed this man’s disability not as judgment, but to reveal His glory.
The apostle Paul also had some sort of physical affliction he refers to as a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul pleaded with God three times to take it away. But the Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God let Paul’s affliction remain to keep him dependent on divine grace.
While sickness is not explicitly identified as God’s will, He can use it to accomplish His purposes. Illness can draw us closer to God, make us lean on Him more, prune away spiritual complacency, teach endurance and patience, evoke compassion in others, and equip us to comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). Suffering can develop godly character and spiritual maturity in us (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4).
God may allow sickness to humble us from pride, redirect us from sin, protect us from harm, or prepare us for ministry to hurting people. He can use illness to make the light of Christ shine through our lives into the darkness. God may even use sickness to take a believer home to heaven if their work on earth is done. So while sickness is not God’s ideal will, He can use it to accomplish His ultimate will.
How do we know when illness is God’s discipline versus just part of living in a fallen world? We can look for the spiritual fruit produced. Hebrews 12:11 says divine discipline yields “a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” If sickness is drawing us closer to God and producing spiritual fruit, it may be God’s refining process.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God told Paul “my power is made perfect in weakness.” When we are weak, then we must rely fully on God’s strength. Perhaps the Lord is allowing illness so that His power can be magnified in our lives as others see us enduring by His grace. If sickness highlights our dependence and God’s sufficiency, it may be His will to let the affliction remain.
We also have to balance God’s sovereignty with His compassion. The same God who permits illness also commands us to pray for healing. Scripture never portrays sickness as something we should passively accept. Jesus and the apostles healed the sick rather than telling them to endure affliction as God’s will. James 5:14-15 instructs ill believers to call for the elders to pray for healing.
So is it sometimes God’s will for believers to be sick? In a fallen world, illness happens and God can use it for good purposes that outweigh the suffering. But since sickness and death are the effects of sin (Romans 5:12), they are really the will of the enemy. 1 John 3:8 says Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, which includes redeeming our bodies from sickness. God’s perfect will is always to heal.
But when healing does not manifest despite persistent prayer, we can trust that God still has purposes in the pain. Our part is to continue praying while surrendering to His will, whether for miraculous healing now or ultimate deliverance in eternity. As we yield to God’s plan, He works all things for our good (Romans 8:28) and refines us to reflect Christ.
Rather than passively accepting affliction as “God’s will,” we can actively resist sickness and suffering in Jesus’ name, while trusting God when He does not provide immediate relief. But deliverance ultimately comes for all believers – if not on earth, then in heaven where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more” (Revelation 21:4).
Here are some key passages about sickness in relation to God’s will:
Psalms 103:2-3 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.
Psalms 107:19-20 – Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
Exodus 15:26 – 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.”
Jeremiah 30:17 – For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
Matthew 4:23-24 – And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.
Matthew 8:16-17 – That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
Matthew 9:35 – And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
Matthew 10:1 – And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
Luke 6:19 – And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
Acts 10:38 – How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
1 Corinthians 12:9 – to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.
James 5:14-15 – Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
So in summary, while God can use sickness and suffering to accomplish His purposes, physical healing and restoration is more fully aligned with God’s revealed will in Scripture. As believers, we should pray boldly for healing while submitting to God’s ultimate plan, whether healing comes now or in eternity.
