Living with Infirmities

KING DAVID was seriously ill, and his foes were hoping that he would die. While eagerly looking for any sign of deterioration in the state of the king’s health, visitors would hypocritically wish him well. Afterward they would delight in passing on their negative observations to others. “A malignant disease fills his frame,” they would say. “Now that he lies ill, he will not rise again.” Even an intimate friend, the trusted counselor Ahithophel, turned traitor.​—Ps. 41:6-10, The New American Bible.

What helped David to endure this time of terrible affliction? He did not lose hope and yield to crippling fear. His trust in God remained strong, for he declared: “Jehovah himself will sustain [his servant] upon a divan of illness; all his bed you will certainly change during his sickness.” (Ps. 41:3) Finally David did recover from his illness.

But how does the Most High sustain his afflicted servants? By means of his spirit, Jehovah God brings to the mind of the sick one thoughts that are comforting and that strengthen hope. What God does in this respect plays a vital part in recuperation. Hence, David could say that Jehovah changes the afflicted one’s bed, transforming it from a bed of sickness into a bed of recuperation.

It is noteworthy that modern physicians have come to recognize the value of hope in recovery from illness. For example, in his book The Vital Balance, Dr. Karl Menninger writes: “Our present scientific knowledge is not sufficient to recognize or identify or properly credit all the forces working for recovery any more than we know in any case all the forces against which we are working. And this we know: Sometimes hope fails, and death ensues, while sometimes hope endures, and the impossible happens.”

Regarding the hurtful effect of hopelessness and fear, The Encyclopedia Americana states: “The operation of fear on the mind is often, if uncorrected, attended with the most serious consequences, especially where sickness is present or disease threatened. On many persons the influence of fear is far more serious in its effect than the worst form of any dreaded malady. In epidemic diseases the terror they inspire is often as fatal as the infection​—paralyzing the system, and robbing the body of the natural elasticity of its nervous stamina, and the mind of the buoyancy of hope, making victims of those who, from age and strength, had the best probability of escaping. Fear is a mental poison, and the most potent of all antagonists to health and medicine.”

The person with unshakable faith in God and in the promises of his Word is protected against succumbing to such destructive fear. He finds comfort in the fact that any affliction will eventually come to its end. Even if that end proves to be death, he is not overwhelmed by fear, because God’s promise of a resurrection from the dead sustains him. While undergoing the distress, he appeals to Jehovah God for help to endure. And God’s spirit or active force supplies the needed strength. Additionally, the sick one looks forward with confidence to the fulfillment of the Bible’s promise: “[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—Rev. 21:4.

The hope that this grand promise engenders can aid a person to maintain a cheerful outlook in the face of the great distress resulting from sickness or accident. Take the case of 43-year-old Robert who was stricken with terminal cancer of the spine. Doctors told him that he had only about a week to live. But some four months later, despite his serious sickness, he arranged to attend an assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. While lying on his bed, he was able to listen to a number of the convention sessions. Medical specialists simply could not believe that he could keep his spirits so high. ‘Hope in the new system that Jehovah has promised keeps me going,’ Robert would say. He also persisted in prayer, appealing to the Most High for strength to endure.

The same promise changed the life of Yuko, a young woman in Japan. At the age of 31, she was stricken with Kogenbyo, a disease that hardens the skin, causing the body to stiffen just like a mummy, and brings on a slow death as it spreads. At first her right hand stiffened and the fingers curled up. Since there is no known cure, Yuko became extremely depressed, especially when she thought about the future of her three children. While in the hospital, she became anemic, and the muscles of her mouth and chin became so stiff that she could no longer talk freely. It became necessary to place Yuko on a liquid diet.

But what happened after she began to study the Bible? It brought her great comfort to learn about Jehovah’s new order in which people would not get sick and die. Yuko relates: “For the first time I had found a sure hope. Eventually I came to have a strong desire to express my beliefs to others in a similar condition, so that they, too, could learn to leave all things in Jehovah’s hands. Fearing my anemia, the doctor did not want me to go out and expose myself to the sun. But I felt impelled to share what I had learned. What was the result? I have had no further problems with anemia. My going out to tell others about the Bible gave me a good appetite so that I gained weight. Also, the muscles of my mouth started to move freely. When considering the miraculous improvement in my state of health, the doctor just shakes his head in amazement, not understanding what could bring about such a change.”

A like transformation was experienced by a young man afflicted with multiple sclerosis. Half of his body was paralyzed, and he would spend his time sitting in a wheelchair in a private room of a nursing home. With one hand, he would operate his wheelchair, moving forward and backward, to the right and to the left. Having lost all hope, he was looking forward to dying. After a period of Bible study with one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, this man began to take a greater interest in life. He made attempts to walk by holding onto his furniture. In time he became quite adept in using a walker. Instead of continuing to live in a nursing home, he moved into his own apartment, began preparing his own meals and even cleaned his living quarters. Instead of continuing to look forward to dying, this young man began to look forward to the fulfillment of the Bible’s promise regarding a world without sickness.

Thus down to our very day, the Bible’s message has provided comfort and encouragement to the aged, the infirm and those suffering because of accident or sickness. By learning to lean on Jehovah God for strength and making the hope that he offers their own, these persons have been able to endure great distress. What a fine testimony this is to the Bible’s being a source of unfailing comfort!