"It Was Good For Me To Be Afflicted So That I Might Learn YOUR Decrees!"

Chance is a base heathenish idea!
(Charles Spurgeon, "The Sick Man Left Behind!"1880)

"But Trophimus have I left 
at Miletus sick." 2 Timothy 4:20

From the fact that Paul left Trophimus 

at Miletus sick, we learn that it is the will 

of GOD that some holy men should be sick. 

Whatever the malady may have been 

which affected Trophimus, Paul could 

certainly have healed him if GOD had 

permitted him. Paul had raised up Eutychus 

from death, and he had given the use 

of his limbs to the cripple at Lystra.

Not so, however, had the LORD willed; 

the good fruit-bearing vine must be pruned--

and Trophimus must suffer. There were 

holy ends to be answered by his sickness, 

which could not be compassed by his health. 

Instantaneous restoration could have 

been given, but it was withheld 

under divine direction.

This doctrine leads us away from 

the vain idea of chance. We are not 

wounded by arrows shot at a venture--

but we smart by the determinate counsel 

of the GOD of Heaven. An overruling 

hand is everywhere present--

preventing or permitting affliction. 

No one shaft of disease is ever let fly by 

stealth, from the bow of death. It was a wise 

providence which selected Trophimus to be sick.

We cannot always see the hand of GOD 

in providence, but we may be always 

sure that it is there. If not a sparrow falls 

to the ground without our FATHER--

then surely not a child of the divine 

family is laid low without HIS sacred will. 

Chance is a base heathenish idea, 

which cannot live in the presence of an 

everywhere present, living, and working GOD. 

Away with it from every Christian mind! 

It is alike dishonoring to the LORD--

and grievous to ourselves!

Also, we may not think a shade 

the less of Trophimus because he is sick 

at Miletus; he is probably a far better 

man than any of us, and perhaps 

for that very reason he is more tried.

There is gold in him, which pays 

for putting into the crucible;
he bears such rich fruit, that 

he is worth pruning;
he is a diamond of so pure, 

that he will repay the lapidary's toil.

"It was good for me to be afflicted 
so that I might learn YOUR decrees!" 
Psalm 119:71

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You might want to read the whole of Spurgeon's insightful 5 page article, 
"The Sick Man Left Behind!"