“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” John 11:25–26 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Psalm 23:4 “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Romans 8:38–39 Here are ten passages exemplifying God’s love for us through Christ, to buoy you through the tempest of severe illness. We need the power of God’s word to uplift our souls, in doses our disease-crippled minds can retain. We need verses to which we can cling when the waves of pain seize us and hope shrinks away. But a hospital stay, or any ordeal with debilitating illness, doesn’t permit elaborate exegesis. Those of us struggling in the hospital need assurance of God’s goodness and steadfast love more than ever. Wrenched from the home, people, and activities we cherish, we struggle for meaning amid the alarms and the batteries of tests, continually asking, “Why, Lord?” When answers do not come quickly, our faith dwindles, giving way to despair. Prayer dissolves to single words amid the fog of illness. Reading Scripture is arduous when unrelenting pain and exhaustion grip us, and downright impossible when medications cloud our thinking. During my decade in clinical medicine, I repeatedly witnessed how disease cuts us off from the very disciplines we rely upon to work through our faith. We learn to seek him all the more fervently when calamity strikes.įew trials, however, challenge our faith like severe illness. While all afflictions aggrieve us, we learn throughout life to lean into the Lord during hardship by delving into his word, and praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). One day she sat in the corner of the hospital room, another pile of syringes beneath her, shadows rimming her eyes, and lamented, “I don’t even know if God’s with me anymore.” When We Cannot Read She would pray, but the words were difficult, and as days passed and the pain continued, she wondered if God heard. She would open her Bible, only to have her eyes, bleary from illness, wander chaotically across the page. Yet as her residence in the hospital became seemingly permanent, and as the simple stuff of life - walking, cleaning herself, conversing without gasping for breath - impossible to complete, the sinews of her faith started to fray. At first, she responded to every setback with praise, reassuring friends of God’s goodness. Love for the Lord radiated from her, a lamp to shine upon everyone who crossed her path (Matthew 5:14–16). When she recovered from her addiction, her renewed life unfolded as a canvas for his work. She reflected upon her once harrowing life adrift in the city, and amid the brokenness she discerned his grace. She knew God had seen her emaciated in the grimed alleyways, trembling as she crouched over a syringe, and yet still loved her. After the Lord rescued her from addiction, she shared the gospel with everyone she met.
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