A few Sundays ago, the pastor of my church preached from Acts 23 in a sermon that spoke to my heart and encouraged me during the difficulties of chronic illness. With his permission, I’m sharing part of his sermon with you in the hope that you too can be encouraged by the reminder of God’s providence in chronic illness.
Backstory (in my words): In Acts 23, Paul stands before the Jewish council to give testimony after he was nearly torn apart in the temple courtyard and rescued by the Roman centurion Claudius Lysius. The council disintegrates into another uproar, and once again Claudius saves Paul from their anger and puts him safely in prison to wait for the next legal step.
The Jews don’t want to wait for the next legal step, so they come up with a plot to kill Paul. Paul’s nephew, a young boy, overhears this plot and reports it to Claudius. Claudius takes immediate measures to transport Paul safely from the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem to Felix’s custody in Caesarea.
The interesting thing is, just 11 chapters prior, in Acts 12, Peter was locked in the same Antonia Fortress. We see Peter freed by a miracle, but not Paul. Instead of working through an angel and miracles, God provided the Roman centurion and Paul’s nephew to rescue Paul.
Here is the rest of Pastor Miller’s sermon in edited transcript form (with my added headings):
1. God’s Providence in Chronic Illness
So often in life we’re looking for miracles, and we should. We pray for them. God can work miracles. When the water that cannot support human weight is firm enough for a man to walk on it, that’s a miracle of God. When a little boy gives a lunch and Jesus feeds five thousand with it, that’s a miracle. God can do that. And God does that.
Let me tell you what’s missed often. While we’re looking for the miracles, we miss God’s providence. You know what chapter 23 is all about? It’s about the providence of God.
It is easy for us as believers to look at this mixed up, messy, dark, filthy, corrupt world, to see the corruption of politics, to see the vileness of sin, to see the promotion of ungodliness, to see every corporation and every mainstream outlet beating the drums of perversion–it’s easy for us to sit back and say, “God, miraculously deliver us from all of that,” and miss the day-to-day provision and providence of God in our daily lives. It’s easy for us to think God is not in control.
Well, you listen to me, God is firmly in control. Many people are waiting for God’s miracles and they’re missing God’s providence.
What does it mean, God’s providence? What do we mean by that? God’s providence is simply this: it is God’s governance over all things in the universe. His providence is controlled by His holiness. His providence is controlled by His love. His providence is controlled by His wisdom. God is firmly in control, and what God is doing is governed by His holiness. What God is doing is right.
You say, “I don’t understand what God is doing.” You shouldn’t be able to understand what God is doing. If you can understand your God, your God is too small.
There’s so much we don’t understand, we don’t know. But what God is doing is right. What God is doing in your life is right, and it’s controlled by His holiness. God is going to do with things without sin, without any shade of darkness. There is no shadow of turning with Him (Jms 1:17). There is no darkness in Him. There is no evil in Him. There is no ungodliness in Him.
And if God is in control of your life, then what God is doing in your life is right and it’s controlled by His love. God loves you. He loves you with an everlasting love. He loves you before He ever knew you. And He loves you now that He knows you.
God knows how the universe works. God knows the planets and the stars by name. God knows how many there are. God knows every hair of your head. God knows the things going on in high places, in dark corners. God knows what’s being conspired in this world. God knows all of that. And it’s all being controlled by God’s providence, His holiness, His love, and His wisdom.
God cares. His providence means that God cares and God directs. Listen to this statement: God’s providence ensures that our lives are not left to fate or chance.
Peter wrote later,
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice.
1 Peter 4:12
Peter said, “Look, if you’re going through a trial right now, God knows about it. He’s in control of it.” God’s providence is controlled by His wisdom. God cares.
2. God’s Presence in Chronic Illness
This is the providence of God in this chapter. But I wanted to show you something else: not only do we see God’s providence, but we see his presence. Look at verse 11:
But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”
Don’t let that pass over you. In the night, everywhere Paul goes, they wanted to kill him. He’s being beaten and accused and maligned and hated. He’s hated by his own countrymen. And there Paul is in chains forsaken.
There’s going to be times in your life when there’s no one that understands or cares. But in those times, the Lord shows up. Some of my loneliest, darkest days have I had the most intense fellowship and intimate fellowship with the Lord.
Jesus comes into that cell with Paul and stands by and says, “Hey, Paul, I’m with you, bud. Be of good cheer.” Can I tell you that not only is God just this God in the abstract controlling the universe, but He is a God who is personal. God is not just in control of the universe, God is concerned with you. And he shows up to cheer the Apostle Paul.
And it’s just like Jesus to say, “Paul, be of good cheer.” That was one of Jesus’ favorite greetings. (See Matt. 9:2, 9:22, 14:27.) And you know what that means, to be of good cheer? It means to take courage. It doesn’t mean just to be happy. Happiness comes from what’s happening. And the happenings of life sometimes don’t bring anything to be happy about. But joy is a different thing. Joy is Jesus’ happiness in you no matter what’s outside of you.
Right before Jesus died, He’s in the upper room with His disciples, and in John 16:33 he looks at them and says, “What you guys are about to see is going to bring great sorrow to your heart. But be of good cheer–I’ve overcome the world.”
Take courage! The providence of God is wonderful that He controls the planets, that He can control the stars, that He’s in control of all of nature. But it is the personal presence of God when He shows up in your affliction and He shows up in your trial and He speaks His peace into your life–a peace “that passeth all understanding” (Phil 4:7).
Be of good cheer. God is concerned with you.
In Job 23:8-10, we all know what Job was going through don’t we? This is what Job said:
“Look, I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
And then he says in verse 10, “But He knows the way that I take.” Sometimes in the providence of God it’s so dark I don’t know where I’m at. But God always knows where you are. He always knows where you are, and He’ll show up in your need.
There’s some of you going through some dark valleys today, and I want you to understand something: God is firmly in control, but He cares, and He has compassion, and He wants you to have courage.
3. God’s Promises in Chronic Illness
Do you know what that must have done for Paul’s heart when the God who had all of His supreme power and authority showed up in person and gave Paul a promise? “You’re going to Rome, Paul. They’re not going to kill you here. You’re going to Rome, and you’re going to preach the gospel in Rome.” Peter said later, “whereby we have exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Pet. 1:4).
There’s something about the providence in God that He’s in control. But when He comes in in person and He brings comfort and courage, He’ll leave you with promises that will give you confidence.
You say, “Pastor, how an you be so confident that things are going to turn out well?” Because I have His promise. I know how things are going to turn out. Things don’t turn out so well for this world, and things don’t turn out so well for the devil, and things don’t turn out so well for his Antichrist and all of his people. This world’s going to end in a bloodbath and they’re going to suffer at the very hands of the God they’ve rejected.
Let me tell you how it’s going to end for me: I’m going to get a brand new body one day. I’m going to stand on streets of gold. I’m going to walk in to Heaven and I’m going to see the Lord face to face, and He’s going to know my name, and He’s going to call me by name, and I’m going to be with Him forever–“So shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).
My life is going to end in glory one day. I’m going to be in His presence. I’m going to know Him. I’m going to fellowship with Him. I’m never going to leave Him. He’s never going to leave me. I’m going to walk with Him forever. And I’m going to live in perfect peace and perfection.
You know, I’m not looking forward to just a brand new body–I’m looking forward to a body that has no sin. I can’t wait till I can serve Jesus with a heart free of pride, free of sin, and I can serve Him with a pure heart. Listen, it’s going to end well for us.
“Pastor, what’s the point of it all?”
God’s in control. He shows up in our trial to give us courage. And He’s always going to give you a promise that’s going to leave you with confidence.
If you know Christ, let’s trust His providence.
Are you looking so much for God’s miracles that you’re missing His providence? In what ways have you seen His provision in your life? How can you embrace His promises for you and your valley?
The Valley 