David was sick like he had never been sink before possibly thinking he was about to die. “O Lord, don’t rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your rage! Your arrows have struck me deep, and your blows are crushing me. Because of Your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.” Verses 1-3 (NLT).
When we are under extreme stress, we have a tendency to look at our situation and think we have done something to displease the Lord. We carry guilt, wonder what we have specifically done wrong, and pray asking God to show us where we messed up. If we have read Old Testament statements where God said He would punish families to the third and fourth generation, we might get into genealogy like I did wondering what my ancestors may have done to displease the Lord.
But unless the Lord has specifically asked us to do something and we refused or we did something we knew He told us not to do, it may take a long time to understand what is going on. We may be wandering in a mental, emotional, and/or spiritual wilderness like Job did. Job had no idea why he lost his health, his children, and all he possessed because God was proving to Satan that Job was a faithful servant.
If we go through times like this, we may find that our friends whom we count on may turn against us like Job’s friends and David’s friends did. Our response to these times must be to keep our faith in God’s promised blessings, repent of any sin we are aware of, and ask God to bless us. We should also read and meditate on the book of Job. But God doesn’t always give us an answer quickly. We have to keep reading the Word, praying, and believing that because we are God’s child, He will at some time pour out His blessings on us again.