God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Leprosy can make life a lot simpler. Being terminally ill often cultivates the clarity of mind that enables people to approach things that are good for them, but which previously made them cower.

Remember the four lepers of Samaria? The city was being starved to death under siege from Syria, and these four were stuck outside the gate between the city and the Syrian army.

They deliberated,

If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die. (2 Kings 7:4)

The question wasn’t whether or not they'd die. That was the no-brainer that their leprosy helped them recognize. The issue, then, was simply when and where: Next week in the city? Tomorrow at the gate? Or today at the hands of our enemies?

They concluded that their enemies could do nothing more to them than what nature had already assigned. And, unlike their city and their skin, their enemies might even show them mercy.

So, in this case, the most frightful prospect was actually the wisest, most fruitful way to go.