Moving from Hurting to Healing Намуна

A couple years ago, well after midnight, I began sobbing uncontrollably while lying in bed beside my wife, Jeannie. Not wanting to disturb her, I moved to the kitchen at the other end of the house. Still, my crying awakened her, and we cried together.

You see, earlier that day, Jeannie and I had listened in stunned disbelief as our oncologist explained the presence and extent of the cancer invading her body. 

How do we handle problems that seem too large for our human grasp? How can we recover our spiritual balance in such situations, and gain the assurance that we are following a divinely ordered path forward?

In our own desperate hour, Jeannie and I were drawn to the apostle Paul’s struggle with his “thorn in the flesh”—that relentless, excruciating problem for which there seemed to be no promise of immediate relief. Paul found his spiritual footing in acknowledging three important truths:

1. God is still in charge. On the surface, a phrase like “there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me” (2 Cor. 12:7), makes it seem as if God had abandoned Paul and left him to the wiles of Satan. But nothing could have been further from the truth! 

Remember, this is the same Paul who penned Romans 8:28: “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Paul saw clearly that all that was happening 

2. Satan is not in charge. Satan and his emissaries are, in one sense, mere messenger boys—unable to do anything without God’s sovereign disposition. That is a hard truth even for some devoted Christians. Yet Paul affirms that, as debilitating and discouraging as his own problem was, this “messenger of Satan” was in fact given for a greater purpose—one that would result in the maturing of his own humility and faith, resulting in God’s greater glory and honor. 

3. God uses our problems to achieve His intended purpose. Problems that involve long-term suffering—whether spiritual, emotional, physical, or all of the above—are often accompanied by these logical questions: Why? What good end could a loving Lord possibly achieve through this suffering? Why do believers suffer when so many who reject Him seem free of such an experience?

Suffering is never punishment—Christ took all the punishment for our sin on the cross “so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). A mature faith knows that suffering is actually a discipline that enables the believer to share in Christ’s holiness and ultimately yields the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” (see Heb. 12:3–11). We are to consider it joy when we encounter trials, for “the testing of [our] faith produces endurance,” and to “let endurance have its perfect result, so that [we] may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3–4).

As we end this study, pray this prayer with me: 

Heavenly Father, I know that my “thoughts are not your thoughts, [and] neither are your ways my ways” as you declare, but this is a HARD situation to be in. I don’t understand it and I honestly wish it away. But you are in control. You have a plan that is better than mine ever could be, even as difficult as it seems at the moment. Remind me that you are God and you care more about my future than I ever could. Hold me as I fall apart, and build me back up. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. 

In Jesus’ precious name, 

Amen.