Jake wulbecker  |  August 20th, 2020

The Benefits of Sickness

Wise words from J.C. Ryle


What good can possibly come from sickness?

Years ago, J. C. Ryle wrote these insightful words on how God may use sickness to bring about good. Below is a brief video adaptation of his biblical insights.
Here is an excerpt:

"I earnestly entreat all sick believers to remember that they may honour God as much by patient suffering as they can by active work. It often shows more grace to sit still than it does to go to and fro, and perform great exploits. I entreat them to remember that Christ cares for them as much when they are sick as He does when they are well, and that the very chastisement they feel so acutely is sent in love, and not in anger. Above all, I entreat them to recollect the sympathy of Jesus for all His weak members. They are always tenderly cared for by Him, but never so much as in their time of need. Christ has had great experience of sickness. He knows the heart of a sick man. He used to see "all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease" when He was upon earth. He felt specially for the sick in the days of His flesh. He feels for them specially still. Sickness and suffering, I often think, make believers more like their Lord in experience, than health. "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matt. 8:17.) The Lord Jesus was a "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3.)  None have such an opportunity of learning the mind of a suffering Saviour as suffering disciples."