God has a plan for sick people
God has a plan for sick people
James 5:13 “Are any among you suffering? They should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually sing praises to the Lord.”
Extra Reading: James 5:13-20
The writer, in his last several paragraphs of the Book of James is making an earnest appeal to let prayer and praise hallow every aspect of life. There are people who think that God abandons us immediately we get sick. This is far from the truth. God is ready to heal us as long as we trust Him to do so. The word “suffering” is a reference to any kind of trouble. It may be mental, personal, domestic or religious persecution. The Greek word referred to here means “to suffer misfortune” or “to have hard experiences.” It speaks especially of distress of soul. People react differently to sickness. Some break down physically, whilst some complain that “God doesn’t care about me”. Some have bitterly blamed God for their troubles. But the Bible clearly says, “Let him pray.” Prayer may not always remove the suffering, but it brings us sufficient grace to bear it. We need to be thankful that life itself is a gift from God, and not blame Him for not healing us immediately.
Verse 13 teaches that all our feelings of sorrow and feelings of joy, should be sanctified-the one by prayer, and the one by praise. James specifically teaches us how to deal with physical healing of believers. The instructions given here are clear and simple. Verse 14 states, “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” When you are sick you are unable to go to work or do anything. You just stay in bed and sleep. You will recall the sick man in John 5 who couldn’t help himself into the pool. He needed a helping hand. Of course, we cannot call the elders when we have headache or tooth ache. But more serious and chronic forms of illness should summon us to call for the anointing by the elders of the church. The elders referred to in this passage are those in the congregation whose responsibility was pastoral oversight and spiritual leadership. The Bible speaks of elders because no one man has a monopoly on God. The presence of elders at the bedside of the one who is sick, helps to encourage him/her, and makes him/her more conscious of the effectiveness of prayer.
Prayer: Father God, You created our bodies from head to toe. Heal us we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen!
Rev. Samuel N. Modise 
