We Have Been Fighting the Flu

We have been fighting colds and fevers in the Miller house. We started out with the coughs and runny noses and then the first boy got a fever. A day or two later another of our boys woke up saying that he dreamed that he was dizzy and and after he woke up, he was still dizzy. He too had a fever. Each boy would end up with a fever and so did I. We would get over the fever and then about a day later we would have another, but the cough and runny nose would continue for another week. Crystal got sick too, but not quite as bad.
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It is not fun being sick for multiple weeks, but it does help me to appreciate the times when I am healthy. God allows the trials of sickness even to those who are faithful. For example Job (Jobe) was a man who faced terrible trials, yet God said of him, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."
(Job 2:3 NASB)
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As Job faced the trials he and his friends tried to figure out the reason. When we face trials we often ask “why?” as well. At the end of the book of Job, God essentially tells them that in all their reasoning about why, they are missing the fact that they are not able to grasp why God does everything that He does. He reminds them that they were not there when He created the world.
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In trying to answer “why?” Job's friends even accuse him of facing trials because of his sinfulness. Job defends himself, but the reality is that Job was not without sin. Still as we saw in Job 2:3, God himself showed that Job was the most blameless and upright man there was. As people face trials in life, it is not always the result of specific sin.
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The Bible actually shows why even righteous people like Job would face trials. “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:3-5) Having a fever and feeling sick is not fun, but it can build character as we look to God for our strength. As we do so, we develop patience through our experience. Then as we survive our trying experience we are reminded that we now have hope to face the next trial. “Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.”
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Job was an example of a righteous man who suffered, but the Bible also warns in Hebrews 12:4-11 that God disciplines Christians when they do wrong. In other words, there are times that we might get sick so that God can get our attention. The passage in Romans showed how trials can build character even in a righteous man, but Hebrews shows that trials can also build character in a Christian is who not living so righteously. “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:9-11 NASB)
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Whether a rough time we are facing is a trial or discipline, if we draw close to God during those times, both should result in fruits of righteousness as we become more like Him through the character building experience of the hardship.