Last week, my son Joshua and I went to Philadelphia for his annual checkup. As some of you know, Joshua was diagnosed a rare form of eye cancer (retinoblastoma)when he was 14 months old. From that situation, the doctors had to remove his left eye (he now has a prosthetic), but God continued to miraculously work in Joshua and he has been cancer-free ever since. We thank God for healing our son.
But going back to Philadelphia is an annual reminder that no matter what, we need to trust the Lord.
I remember that initial evaluation. “Your baby has cancer”. Difficult words to process. Angela and I wanted so desperately for this to go away, yet we also knew that we must trust Him.
As we were in Philadelphia last week, I reflected on all that God has done over these last three years. In the struggles, in the triumphs, God is faithful and incredibly worthy of our praise. I remembered three things that we wanted to focus on during that time.
One, no matter what happens, we want to trust God more than ourselves. Second, we want God’s will more than our own desires. We want to love God more than we hate this. Third, we did not want to just “accept” this, we wanted to embrace it, knowing that God is in control and He is good.
I must confess that we are still in process. We still want these things, but often my own selfish desires or motives get in the way. We want to trust the Lord in every situation, in every detail of our lives. Yet, often my own efforts overshadow my reliance on Him.
I certainly pray that God would continue to use this situation and all things for His glory alone. And that through us and despite us, His fame will continue to spread.
One thing remains clear. More than ever, we need the Lord. His grace, His strength, His holiness, His mercy, His will.
I thank and praise the Lord for His faithfulness and for His amazing love.
Hey Kevin –
I’d like to engage you on one point you made: “we did not want to just ‘accept’ this, we wanted to embrace it, knowing that God is in control and He is good.”
From knowing your family, I know exactly what you mean.
Still, it runs up against some issues I’m dealing with in my family. My grandmother suffered a devastating stroke last year, and my aunt has been thrown into an unexpected and stressful role as a nearly full-time caregiver.
In addressing my aunt’s distress, I offered her an observation that I thought hard about before I sent it on. I observed (in more consoling words than I offer here) that while God is supremely and unmitigatedly good, pain and tragedy are part of the picture because of sin. Not my grandmother’s sins per se, but Sin as introduced by The Fall. Though Christ redeems us for eternity, death yet reigns on earth. So if what’s going on with my grandmother – or with Joshua – seems unnatural, I say, it is!
To add a still more poignant example, my heart breaks almost daily for the family in our church that lost a young husband and father. A thirtysomething widow with five kids is utterly perverse to me…
I guess I’m just caught in this situation where I find my faith is telling me to embrace what seems perverse… I don’t understand it, but there’s a tension there that I can deal with (well, kind of… at least on my better days) … probably because I’m not the one really suffering.
Please don’t misunderstand; I affirm what you’ve said above – that the chapter and verse of God’s authorship of our lives, for good and bad, is to be embraced. As Job said, shall we accept good from God, but not evil?
I just wonder how you look at my sentiments after going through your experience with Joshua.
Am I way off base here?
Excellent point, Hugh. Thanks for your comments. As believers we are certainly not spared from tragedy or suffering. I agree with you that it is far easier to feel other’s pain, than to experience the depth of the suffering firsthand. Yet no matter the degree of suffering, as believers we must trust that God works all things for the good for those who love Him.
We live in a fallen world, and as a result death and suffering entered the world.
With Joshua, we hated the fact that he had cancer. Our only hope was and is that God would grant us the faith and the hope to love Him more than we hated the situation.
I thank God that Joshua made it through. But he may not have. Just like all of us, another day is never promised. How would we have reacted otherwise? Ultimately, I do not know. But we should, as James says, “consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
This is an intentional embrace of the Lord in the midst of tragic situations. Never easy…yet the result of this obedience under fire is endurance.
So what is the point of sufferings that seem so unjust? Certainly, God uses these trials to strengthen our faith and to make us more compassionate toward others. As you said, it is quite difficult to embrace what we consider perverse circumstances. Yet, when we focus on loving (and trusting) God more than we hate the situation, it gives us a broader perspective that the Father of compassion will comfort us in our pain, so that hopefully, God will use us to comfort others.
Ultimately, in the midst of suffering, we look to Christ who did not leave us in our fallen circumstances. But instead willingly entered the world to ultimately suffer and die for those who woul believe. He provides the only way to eternally escape the very sufferings we experience today. He is our only hope.
May the words of our heart be the same as the words on our lips when we sing
“He gives and takes away…our hearts will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name.”