For 17 years
my husband has lived with metastasized prostate cancer. From a medical
perspective we know there is no cure; and from the spiritual perspective the
disease has not been cured, but suppressed. As believers we are confident the
Lord carries our burdens; however, I was taken aback when I read that the Lord has
done more than suppress Bill’s cancer, He has carried the disease. Matthew noted
that the words of the prophet Isaiah were fulfilled in Jesus, “He took up our
infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matt 8:17 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Disease and poverty amongst those who worship the Lord perplex me. I’ve known many sincere Christians fraught with ailments or shackled to poverty. I’ve known some to die from their ailments at young ages and others to recover completely almost miraculously. I’ve known some who, seemingly without regard to their efforts, live in squalor, happenstance always yanking the carpet out from under them but never setting them up for success. I’ve known others who’ve stumbled across opportunity and fallen out of their poverty, and some upon whom happenstance shines good fortune like sunlight. Yet the Bible says, “The steps of a man are from the LORD, and He establishes him in whose way He delights; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD is the stay of his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread. He is ever giving liberally and lending, and his children become a blessing.” (Ps 37:23-26) And Jesus said to seek the Kingdom of Heaven first and all these things we would otherwise fret over will be added to us. I can’t imagine many of the folks I’ve known to live in difficulty are failing to seek His kingdom first, while many of those prosperous ones haven’t seemed to be seeking it much at all.
-----But it is also the Scripture which proclaims wisdom and understanding to be of more value than gold and silver. It doesn’t necessarily state the form of wealth to which it refers when addressing prosperity. And what is a long life? 120 years? Methuselah lived 969 years. Is physical firmness the point of good health, or spiritual firmness? “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” (Ps 84:10)
-----Happenstance is the effects other people and things around you cause to you. God plays there in His own subtle ways as much as He plays in your mind subtly. His Spirit shapes and forms the courses of history for His purposes. Each of our lives are very tiny, yet very important elements of His overall plan in progress. All we can say for certain is that He is the Potter, we are the clay. So we should mean it when we pray “…Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done…” For acknowledging that the happenstances of our lives are His to steer into His purposes makes even poor health and poverty precious.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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