[Baptist News Service 8 July 1998]

By Thomas D. Lea FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Where is God when we hurt? He is helping us to handle life's thorns. He has not left us.

For the past three and a half years, I have battled cancer. It started with a visit to the doctor's office where he broke the news to me that I had cancer. He scheduled surgery to remove the cancerous organ, but cancer had already spread outside the area he removed.

Over the past three years, I have had radiation treatment, hormonal injections and, most recently, chemotherapy. The treatments have not produced healing, but they have slowed the development of the cancer. I am not in remission, but I do have strength and stamina to preach, write and serve as dean of the school of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For this I thank God.

Along the way, I have become the prayer concern of countless old and new friends. I am convinced that their prayers have played the major role in securing for me strength, God's direction and spiritual balance during a time of great challenge. God has taught me some lessons that have provided me guidance and help during these times of uncertainty.

First, I have renewed the conviction that God is sovereignly in charge, even in my sickness. He has not left me. He is concerned about my spiritual good (Romans 8:28). To take any other position relegates God to the role of a helpless parent who can do nothing for his children but to stare helplessly as they suffer. We trust in the goodness of God who is working all things for good in our lives. His discipline will produce a harvest of peace and righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

David Watson was one of the most effective Christian leaders in Great Britain in this century, serving as pastor in a local church and leading many evangelistic and spiritual life missions throughout England and around the world. He became the instrument for leading many to faith in Christ and for leading Christians to deeper growth in the Lord.

Watson developed cancer and died in 1984, still in his early 50s, in many ways at the peak of his ministry. When the announcement of his death appeared in the newspapers, it ended with the phrase, "The Lord Reigns." Watson wanted to make it clear that his death was no frivolous accident that caught God by surprise. God was still reigning even on the occasion of his death.

Second, God gives his grace to those who know their weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). It is weak people, sick people, who can best learn to depend on God's grace. We have a tendency to struggle with the justice and fairness of events when we contract a disease like cancer and then waste away. The problem with expecting to live in a world that is perfectly fair is that in that world we would get what we deserve. If we get what we deserve, we find no grace. Grace is available only when it is undeserved. God specializes in giving his grace to the undeserving.

In 1996, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago died of pancreatic cancer when he was 68 years old. In his last days of life he published a book, "The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections," in which he wrote: "My special gift to others is to share God's peace, to help them deal with illness, troubled times."

As he traveled to Loyola University's cancer center for radiation treatments in his last days, Bernardin became an unofficial chaplain to patients in the center. He would take a 10-minute treatment and visit for five hours. His prayer list grew to include 700 names, people he had met in his visits.

Third, we should delight in our weaknesses, indeed in our sicknesses, because they provide opportunities to know God. When we are weak, then we are strong. Sickness such as cancer can provide an opportunity to know God more deeply.

The beloved blind hymn writer Fanny Crosby lost her sight a few months after birth because of a medical mishap. Even quite early she showed marvelous spiritual maturity as she faced her problem. At age 10 she wrote the following words: "O what a happy child am I although I cannot see. I am resolved that in this world contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot and I won't."

God used Fanny Crosby's sickness to provide an opportunity for her to know him more deeply. He uses our suffering to make of us what we could never become without it. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4:17 echo the same idea: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." Paul was saying that in reality our troubles were light and temporary. What God prepares for us is heavy with glory and eternal.

Fourth, we know that one day there will be complete healing. The day will come when God will wipe all tears from our eyes and will abolish death, mourning, crying and pain (Revelation 21:4).

Peter quoted Isaiah 53:5 to show that the wounds of Christ have brought healing to his people (1 Peter 2:24). We find too many instances in Scripture of ill Christians to think that Peter's words promise healing in this life to all sick believers (2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 2 Timothy 4:20). We are healed by his wounds, but the complete healing comes in the life beyond. We may see healing in this life, but we have no promise that all believers will constantly enjoy it.

One of our sources of strength as we face trials such as cancer is the confidence that God can turn tragedy and the unplanned event into an ending that is good. Our trust that God will supply future grace for our needy souls can give us the stamina to move forward in commitment to him.

One Christian leader whose life illustrates this principle is Benjamin B. Warfield, for almost 34 years a leading theologian who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1876, when he was 25, Warfield married Annie Kinkead. During their honeymoon in Germany, Annie was struck by lightning and paralyzed permanently. For the next 39 years, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time as he cared for his wife until her death in 1915. Warfield showed spectacular patience and stamina as he cared for her in the wake of this tragedy. This was an event that Warfield had never planned, but he committed himself to care for his wife. He never fell into a mood of blaming God for his plight.

When Warfield wrote his thoughts on Romans 8:28 he said, "The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good ... Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings ... and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us."

When God's children face suffering such as cancer, they can find much comfort in the knowledge that God is still controlling their lives. He gives his grace to those who know their weaknesses. He uses our sicknesses and diseases to provide an opportunity to know him. He is working all things for good in the lives of those who love him. Lea is dean of the school of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.