Suffering sickness and the kingdom of God

I had a conversation the other day with a friend on suffering. We were talking about sickness and sin and the grace of God. It got me thinking about it. It’s a subject t that has come up when I talk to unbelievers. They ask why does God let people suffer if he is a God of love? Many Christians equate suffering with sin and state that if u are sick or lacking then u must be living in sin.
Paul states in Rom ch 5 that we should rejoice in our suffering knowing that it produces endurance for the coming glory of God. And again in (Rom 8:18) "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us". Paul tells us that suffering is a part of this life, that God uses it to make us more like himself. Jesus Himself was made perfect through his suffering so that he could be connected to us in every way Heb2:10-11,5:7-9. Not just his death on the cross but his entire life as a human being. I don’t think that anyone would question that we will suffer, we live out our lives longing for the kingdom to be fulfilled living in the now of our salvation and wrestling with the not yet glorification that is so evident in our daily lives. Let us embrace the suffering and let it make us into the perfect creation that we the chosen of Christ are destined to be.
Suffering some may say does not have to be sickness. In the book of Mathew ch 8:17 Jesus fulfills the words of Isaiah “ he took our illness and bore our disease”. In James 5 we are instructed to bring the sick before the elders for healing by faith. Does this mean that all of the followers of Jesus are to be healed? We all know that we are not all free from physical sickness and pain. So is it our own fault when we are not healed? Is there a hidden sin that we must get rid of before the healing can take place? Do we just lack the faith to bring it about? We know that sin is the root cause of all that is wrong with this world, so in a sense yes sin is why we are sick or in pain. Are there times were we might be healed if we just went to the elders and prayed? I believe yes there are many times people just don’t pray, we don’t have because we don’t ask. But I don’t see that these scriptures are blankest for a total healing that we just need to grasp. We live in the kingdom but not all of his enemies are yet under his feet. We wait for the day when it all comes together and every tear is wiped away. This life is but a shadow of the things that will come (Heb 3:2-3) “Beloved we are Gods children now and what we will be has not yet appeared: but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (Phil 3:2o,21) “for our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”.
We also see from scripture that not all that ails us is because of sin. For Jesus healed a blind man that was born blind. His disciples asked if it was his mother and father who sinned or he himself that he was born blind. Jesus answered neither but that his glory would come from the healing (john ch 9). And again there is the thorn in Paul's flesh that was never removed though this great man of faith prayed many times (2 cor 12:7). Some times it seams that God allows the pain and sickness so that we keep our eyes on the cross and the coming kingdom. I would never be so bold as to tell someone that there sickness is because of a lack of faith or a sin in there life. If they truly belong to Christ then the holy spirit resided in them and ,God willing, a way of escape will be made known to them. But this we do know all things come together for the good of those who are in Christ Jesus!
We await a kingdom that was started on earth with the arrival of our advocate. He conquered death and brought us life. He showed us a taste of the kingdom yet to come that is being built as we speak. (2Cor 5:1)"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee". I pray that I remember in all my life's struggles that I serve a great God who who brings all things about for his Glory (Isa 46:9)"Remember the former things of old for I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is none like me,10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'