"OVER AGAINST WHAT is claimed in much modern pseudo-Christian theology, the Bible never promises that any human being will know in this life only good health, financial prosperity, and happiness. Moreover, it certainly never ties faith and righteousness to the attainment of these things in any simplistic way. It is true that the way of faith and obedience to God is in the end the blessed way, and God’s blessings can include good health, financial prosperity, and happiness. It is untrue, however, that the faithful and obedient person will only and ever possess such things and can somehow be sure of avoiding illness, disaster, and death if he or she can simply muster enough religious devotion.
To believe this is to believe something profoundly unbiblical; to teach it is to insult every Christian throughout the past two thousand years who has known illness, poverty, and misery; and to press it on the sick, the poor, and the unhappy of the present day is to place a millstone around the neck of those who are drowning, rather than offering them the comfort and hope of the gospel. God is much more concerned to make us holy and to shape us in the image of Christ than he is to make us happy, rich, and healthy." [1] [Emphasis Mine]
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1. Provan, I. (2001). Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. The NIV Application Commentary (183–184). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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