WHY WE DON'T GIVE UP

 

We have been given the opportunity to wait on God with this present trial of cancer. We  have chosen an alternative form of treatment and because of this some have seen fit to explain to us that there is no hope in our waiting; we should simply accept that this cancer is terminal; there is no hope for healing through any form of alternative treatment.  All the medical information inside the box of standard treatment options and the statistic say so. Just give up and face the music.

I have a few questions for those who give us this type of counsel. Is God so small that He is limited to deliver, save and heal only through the ways of finite men who've been known to use oppression, lies and greed to give false hope to the needy and afflicted? Do those who tout the standard treatment want to find a cure or is it just too lucrative to simply battle the symptoms and not treat the cause? Do these men and institutions alone have all the wisdom and knowledge regarding cancer? If so and they continually fail why should we trust them? Would these same researchers and oncologist or oncology nurses subject themselves to the standard treatment?

BUT GOD….

“….. will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, 

wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.” Isaiah 33:6 ESV

Is the wisdom of fallen man our only option?  Is there no wisdom with God? Does He not promise those who lack wisdom that He will give it graciously and abundantly?

WHAT SHOULD OUR HEART ATTITUDE BE?

Doesn't His word counsel us to count it all joy when we face various trials the purpose of which is to test our faith and cause us to stand steadfast, perfect and complete in Him? At the same time this testing reaches even to hearts far beyond us. God's designs like Him are complex.

Shall we be double minded in regards to the trials of this life? Shall we profess publicly our trust in Him yet while upon our beds and in hours of solitude give way to hopelessness, fear and depression as though our God is like man who lies, fails and forsakes us? Is this the heritage of His redeemed ones?

No! So let us not be conformed to a worldly response but let us be transformed by the renewing of our mind through His word:

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah

Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death. (Psalm 68:19-20 ESV)

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. (Psalm 138:7-8 ESV)

 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50:14-15 ESV)

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (Psalm 46:10-11 ESV)

 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 ESV)

In contrast the worldly minded think in this vein:

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:10-12 ESV)

Notice the people cried to the Lord but turned and accused Moses of failing them. What they were actually doing was passing judgement upon God for using Moses as their deliverer.

WE CAN REST IN THE LORD BECAUSE….

God our loving Father and gracious Creator knows our days.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:13-17 ESV)

WHAT IF…..

So what if it isn't His plan to heal this temporary affliction while we dwell on the earth? What shall we think, do and say of Him then? Shall we be like Job’s wife?

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9-10 ESV)

No, like Job we shall instead say, ‘Though He slay me yet will I praise Him.’ For whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. For we are assured that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. By His grace, we let our hearts take courage. We will walk by faith in His holy and unchanging character and not lean upon our own understanding, our fickle feelings nor our faulty natural sight. And as we do we will have fulfilled at least in part of the purpose of this trial by remaining a faithful witness to the gospel of grace through which we have been saved through faith.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV)