Do you ever read about the life of Jesus and wonder why we don't see miracles like that today? Everywhere Jesus went, he preached and healed. And healed. And healed. I'm sure there are many reasons why a big portion of Jesus' mission was healing, but today I am struck with one.
Mark 6:5-6 says, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith."
Out of all the places Jesus preached and healed, the one place in which he didn't heal many people was his hometown. These people simply couldn't believe in him. They had seen him grow up. They knew his mother. They knew his brothers and sisters. They couldn't get past the facts to see the clear miracles this man was doing.
Because of their lack of faith, they didn't see miracles.
Sometimes we also can't get past the obvious facts to be able to see the miracles performed in our midst.
In the case of my father-in-law, we have a hard time seeing past the facts. The tumor is inoperable. The chemotherapy nor radiation has eliminated the tumor. His body is taking an incredible toll from this over 2 year fight.
Yet the miracles are there. My mother-in-law could list many more but here are the ones I have witnessed. Last fall, I had to see a specialist, the same one who initially diagnosed Mike's liver tumor. His nurse remembered Mike, even over a year later, and asked how my husband was doing. I quickly corrected her, saying, "No, my father-in-law." After talking with her, I realized she hadn't made a mistake. She was asking how my husband was coping. When I told her my father-in-law was still in the fight, I'll never forget the joyous shock on her face.
Then this June I was in the emergency room with the family when Mike was taken in with some very frightening symptoms. I saw the faces of the ER doctors that my mother-in-law had been describing for the past two years. No one expected him to make it out of that hospital. The look in their eyes told it all.
Yes, God is performing miracles. Even miracles of healing. Perhaps not the healing where he is cancer free, but healing nonetheless. And God is gaining the glory in countless ways. He is gaining glory through my mother-in-law's blog as she shares their fight, their struggle, and every prayer need that's met. He is gaining glory through the love shown by the church, their local one and the body of believers around the country.
And really, isn't that what miracles are always all about anyway? Giving glory to God? Whether it be in my family's fight or in Jesus's earthly ministry, the whole purpose is to point to God, the one who loves us all and gave his only Son Jesus to save us from our sins that destine us to eternal hell.
The one who has so much love that He will allow his precious children to suffer like this in order to bring others to His saving grace. I'll tell you, I'd have an awful hard time allowing my child to suffer for someone else's benefit, but that's exactly what God is doing.
I'm convinced as long as God keeps granting miracles in Mike's life, there is at least one more person God is pursuing. Maybe it's you?
And you betcha, I'm praying for the ultimate miracle in Mike's earthly life.
2 comments:
Yet why didn't God prevent these cancers from forming to begin with?
Science and medicine is also to thank for healing. Before we knew how to treat cancer, people died much sooner. Was this because God didn't choose to save them?
I certainly don't have all the answers, as these questions are some I ask myself. But I will share a few thoughts I have.
The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Yes, this means that without us accepting Christ's sacrifice for our sins, we will be bound for an eternity in Hell. But the wages of sin is also earthly death. God created our bodies perfect, in his own image (Gen. 1:27). But with the sin of Adam and Eve, our bodies were tainted. A theologian might have to correct me on this, but it wasn't until after Adam's and Eve's sin did God state that they would die. Because of our sin nature, we are all bound for earthly death, obviously in various forms, such as cancer. But in the grace of God, he didn't leave it like this. In Genesis, he already made a plan to save us from eternal death when it says that Eve's offspring will crush [Satan]'s heel. That offspring is Jesus! His perfect life and sacrifice for our sins makes it where we only have to endure one death - the physical one - but are granted reprieve from our spiritual death, but this only comes when we accept Christ's sacrifice for our sins.
As for why God chooses to heal some and not others, I wish I had the answer. But ultimately, even the people Jesus healed died their earthly death eventually. Just as even if Mike is healed from this cancer, he will eventually die physically, as we all will. What he chooses to do in his life between now and then is up to God's providence. His ways our not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55:8).
I've been learning that if our only focus on this life, we're missing the point. Our life is but a mist anyway that appears for awhile and then vanishes (James 4:14). It's the eternal purposes that are going to endure.
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