No. A lack of adversity does not prove you have faith! Instead, faith is apparent in tribulation. It is measured when trials occur and the person continues to praise and follow God. 

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith. It is likely to remain stunted as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers as well as when all things are against her" (Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, 1997).

How lovely is a person to our Lord, who is battling an illness, but continues to praise Him and study His word? It is a travesty when our brothers and sisters do not see their faith through the eyes of God; He sees us loving and praising Him through the pain, loss and tears. What faith is shown during such times of raging storms! After all, how difficult is it to exalt Him when our waters are calm?

Faith is tried as tribulations arise and it is those very trials which make us choose to trust in our Lord and grow closer to Him or curse Him and walk away. When we choose to stay and have faith in God, it is faith in knowing that He will hear our case and suffer with us, so we can grow closer and more dependent upon Him and not upon ourselves. If He chooses not to heal us in our timing, we will still mourn our losses and will even go through times of being hurt or angry.

Our Lord understands. He allows us to cry and tell Him how much we are torn apart by our lost dreams; He wants us to be forthcoming, admit our difficulties and lean Him. Sometimes, we may even have a tantrum or give God the silent treatment for a while; but, ultimately, we fall on bended knee in reverence, because of our faith.

Yes, it is okay to be saddened by our circumstance and it is okay to reflect on our sorrows; that does not mean our faith is being shaken, but we run to Him for our every comfort, strength to persevere and gift of courage to triumph. It is our faith in God's purpose, plan and His hand that helps us to get through the storms of this temporary existence. We know that we cannot prevail without God's hand and we know that He gives us that power.

Yes, sometimes people are ill, because of sin and an illness can be a consequences of their actions. For instance, if someone is cheating on their spouse and trying to act right with God, their misalignment with God's will is going to cause them stress and unrest, which can lead to ulcers or heart attacks. Also, if a person purposefully ate a high cholesterol diet and ended up with clogged arteries, then their illness is obviously a consequence of their own choices; and, many times people are ill, because of the sin and consequences of this fallen world. 

Therefore, just because someone is ill, it does not mean that it is directly related to their own sin. It is essential to address these issues, reflect on one's life and confess all sin, but once that has been done, others must realize that illness is not always an outward sign of personal, hidden sin and is it not a punishment from God.

Job's friends wanted him believe that the only reason God would not heal Job was because of his sin. They wanted to believe that God was somehow required to produce miracles at their every whim and if He did not, it was because of something the person was doing wrong. Otherwise, why would Job worship a God who simply refused to heal him, unless it was of his own fault? We are still put into a similar position as Job, when we are told God must be a God that we can tell what to do and when or we must be doing something wrong. 

When our fellow believers come to us with advice about God, telling us that we must be in sin or doing something wrong, otherwise God would not be punishing us with illness, we sometimes feel like Job when he told his friends, "My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God" (NIV, Job 13:1-3). Job was telling them, I will talk with my God about this situation and if He does not heal me, I will still trust in Him. Job went on to challenge his friends about their own sin and their insistence that he was sick, because of sin, by saying, "Would it turn out well if he examined you?" (NIV, Job 13:9). 

Job continued to have faith in God, even though his wife told him to turn from this God who would not heal him. Job knew that God had the power to heal him and he continued to worship the Lord even though he was still afflicted. Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;" (NIV, Job 13:15a). Job fully trusted in God, His will and His power to heal him, even though he was still suffering. Job had so much faith in God, despite his circumstances, that he knew God was hearing his case and that God was in control. And, that is true faith!

Job clearly showed that we can suffer, be frustrated with our situation and still have faith in God, all at the same time when he added, "I will surely defend my ways to his face" (NIV, Job 13:15b). At the same time that Job had faith in God, he had not given up, as he plead his case to God, because he still wanted to be healed. It is okay to tell God how you are feeling about your situation and to plea your case, but it is not okay to say that God must grant our every wish on our own terms and in our own timing!

So, was Job sick, because he lacked faith? No! Job showed he had an enormous amount of faith, because he continued to serve God, even though he had yet to be healed. A sign of faith is not an outward appearance of financial success or good health! Instead, a sign of faith is someone who praises and worships God in adversity. They are a person who asks for God's healing and grace, but knows that His will is what is best. "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight" (NIV, Proverbs 3:5&6).

Someone with a lot of faith knows that God is almighty, powerful and able to move mountains. Yet, they also know that they are not God and for them to expect to fully comprehend His omnipotent ways, would be expecting to be equal to Him. God tells us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (NIV Isaiah 55: 8&9).

So, where do we get our faith? God wants us to be solely dependent upon Him for our every fortification. He wants our every strength, peace and purpose to come from Him. We must read His word, be in His teachings and pray without ceasing. We must come to God with a humble disposition and void of self in order to be lifted by His hand. Further, we must have an awareness of our unworthiness and be willing to admit our weakness without Him.

The Bible says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (NIV, Matthew 5:5). Does this mean that we should be doormats and pushovers? Should we be frightful wimps who cower in the corner? No! The word, meek in the Biblical context means to have a "disposition before God, namely, humility" (NIV Study Bible, pg 1449) or reverence to God. When we come before God devoid of pride, self-exaltation and boasting, we allow Him to fill us with His power and might. 

You see, God is telling us that He wants us to be strong, but He wants all of our strength to come from Him and not ourselves. The world derives its strength from within, only creating a selfish, self-centered race. On the contrary, we must find our strength from God, focusing on Him in order to become selfless, God-centered people. Thus, for us to receive His strength, we must come to Him in humbleness, admitting our weakness. 

God does not tell us that when we are weak or sick to "pull up our own bootstraps;" and, contrary to popular belief, "God helps those who help themselves" is not a quote from the Bible! He does not mock us for being weak and in need of help; instead, He tells us to come in our weakness, devoid of our-selves and He never wants us to come to Him with our own wherewithal. In fact, we cannot be filled with God until we are emptied of self (Matthew 5:1-12), because He wants us to come to Him in our weakness and not by our own capability. 

Furthermore, God does not want us to hold tightly to our own plans for our lives. Just as a toddler thinks running into the street is fun, so do we think gallivanting in the world is delightful. We as parents, try to prevent our children from darting out into the road, just as God tries to save us from our own dangerous desires. 

We must not grip onto what we think is best for our lives, but put our arms around what God wants for us. What we may see as a fortress, blockading us from what we think we need, may be a simple yard to keep us safe. If we are willing to trust God with our lives, that means we must want what He wants for us; sometimes, that means giving up our own desires for His. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it" (NIV, Matt: 16:25).

Faith allows us to believe with our heads and trust with our hearts. Having faith means relying upon what God thinks is best, not what we think is best. It is not believing that He has to do what we want, but what He wants. If you are telling Him that you know what is better for your life, who are you trusting in? God or yourself? 

It takes a stronger faith to believe God knows best, even when we cannot see it, than it does to demand our own way. After all, it is easy to trust in God's and His plan, when we can see for ourselves how it is working to our advantage and lines up with our own desires; but it takes true faith to trust in God's plan when we cannot see the benefits with our own understanding and we are not getting our own way.

God wants us to seek Him in our weakness, with a disposition of meekness, so that He can be the soul provider of our fortitude.  Jesus said, "...my power is made perfect in weakness" (NIV, 2 Corinthians 12:9). When we come to Him with no strength of our own, He fills us with His might and our faith is multiplied by His grace. Spurgeon added, "You would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the flood waters" (Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, 1991).

Only then, will we know the true supplier of all our strength is not of ourselves. After all, what better than to be filled with courage, perseverance and confidence from our Lord, rather than from our own self-serving, inadequate, human-ness?

REFERENCES:

Boyd, Dr. Jeffery (January 2001). Tribute to an American Heroine. A Personal Letter. www.invisibledisabilities.com/heroine.htm

IDA Guestbook (1998-2001): Comments made by visitors to the IDA Website in a public format of a guestbook, sponsored by Inside the Web.

IDA Survey (November 1999): How Does Your Church Deal With Illness? An informal question posed to various health related support forums, clubs and message boards on the internet.

Lucado, Max (2001). Taped message: We're Not Home Yet. Sermon series, A Garden in My Prison. Copyrighted material used by permission from UpWords 4/25/2001.

Spurgeon, Charles (1997). Morning & Evening, p 636. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House. Copyrighted material printed with permission from Whitaker House 5/31/2001. Publisher's note: Morning & Evening is available at Christian Bookstores and many online book sellers!

Vine, W.E (1985). An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. New York: Nelson Publishers.