03/07/2018
How strong are you, and how strong is your faith? Does the strength of your physical body reflect the power of your faith? To answer this let’s consider the apostle Paul. Perhaps you are battling an illness, or a deformity that cripples you, and your prayer for this to be removed is seemingly falling on deaf ears. When our bodies suffer and become frail this can actually be our time of greatest dependence on God, and as such the height of our faith.
“But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV
Paul tells us that he prayed on three occasions that his thorn be removed from his side, but, as we read in our scripture, God said no, and that His grace was sufficient.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.”
2 Corinthians 12:8 ESV
We are not all struck with a physical weakness, or malady, but for those of us who are, it can be more than a teaching tool, it can be a blessing. This blessing can teach us a lesson of faith and then retreat, or remain a constant reminder. We can be weakened or struck down for a season, like with Paul’s blindness, or like Paul’s thorn in the flesh ours can last an entire lifetime. I have encountered both in my life. I have experienced illnesses that have come and gone, bones that have broken and then healed, but I also have thorns that are too deeply rooted to be removed that I will struggle with the rest of my life. You will find that if you live a long life, then at some time in it you are likely to be like Paul in both these regards.
So as we face our thorns, or traverse these chasms of life, how will we approach them? Will we remain planted on the one side, put down roots and stay as captives to what ails us, or claim the humility and blessing they represent? Will we use these tools of humility and suffering as a bridge to increase our faith? Will the hardship we are facing be allowed to humble our spirit and increase our faith... or drag us down and defeat us?
I have two longtime hardships in my life, one is a progressive tremor that I have had since I was young, and the other is a cancer that was found in my sixties. The tremor will never go away and has progressed to the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but the cancer was removed from my body and I am now vigilant in watching for any sign of a return visit. Both of these have brought me close to God as I have placed myself in His arms. They humble me physically, but give me great strength spiritually.
God uses our weaknesses to His great advantage. In sharing my cancer experience with others God has opened up a wonderful avenue by which I can speak to many with cancer about faith, and Jesus Christ.
Recently I wrote an open letter to a cancer patient as a part of a program called “A Letter to Me.” My letter tells my cancer story, gives hope, encouragement, and speaks of faith; the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute is using this letter nationwide as a tool in treating patients. I was further invited by them to read this letter, and discuss my experiences with cancer during a recent videotaped interview with my son (also a cancer survivor). What is amazing is that although I mentioned faith in a short, and very generic way, almost every email I have received reaches out for prayer, refers to an increase in their faith in Jesus, or asks a question of faith regarding the gospel of Christ. My humbling infirmity strengthened my own faith, and now it is being used by God to reach the lives of many more. Our God is indeed great, and His ways are mysterious and wonderful.
My tremor, on the other hand, is obvious and restricts my ability to write. I am thankful for computers (and smart phones) because without them I would not be able to communicate my thoughts. One Sunday afternoon following the baptism of two of my grandchildren, we went as a family to a nearby Shoney’s restaurant for lunch. After our meal I took my check to the register and handed it to the cashier. He was older, and as I found out later, the manager. He printed out the receipt, and I tried unsuccessfully to fill it in, so I quietly asked him if he could write in the amount of the tip for me. He did so, then he leaned over the counter and in a low voice asked me if he could pray for my tremor. I never refuse prayer, and he took my hands between his and prayed for me. His prayer blessed me, and I felt the presence of God in that place. I know from all of the times I have prayed for others that it blessed him as well. Our infirmities humble us, and are tools in God’s hands.
So what appears to be a handicap, or a threat to our very lives can strengthen our own faith, and the faiths of so many that come in contact with us; they become spiritual avenues into the heart and soul; they humble us and require that we place ourselves in the God’s strong hands. That day in Shoney’s I had to swallow my pride to ask for help, but God showed me that was exactly what He wanted from me... my submission and humility. In my “Letter to Me”, I opened up the embarrassing subject of testicular cancer, but God took that and is using it right now to broadly touch souls, and bring them to Him through Jesus Christ.
We face such things as pain, fear, hardship, addiction, cancer, Parkinson’s, and a myriad of other ailments, but God uses each of them to circumcise hearts, to humble us, and to deliver the Gospel of Jesus. So just like Paul... let’s boast in our weaknesses because through them God is strengthened, and our faith abounds. Are you ready to face the truth in your ailments? Are you prepared to hear the voice of God in the midst of your thorns?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my weaknesses and my infirmities. I thank you for just the right amount of strength you give me to continue my walk each day with Jesus despite the pain, and the suffering I endure. I thank you for humbling me so that my own pride, self-assuredness, and personal strength don’t become stumbling blocks for the faith of others, or myself. Help me to learn from Paul's life that my weakness is your strength, and that I can do mighty things for your kingdom because of them, not despite them. I find you standing behind every hardship, and feel your hand lift me as I stumble along. Speak to me in whispers, rushing winds, and joy, but also let me hear your voice from within the sobs of my sorrow, the cries of my wounds, and the moans of despair during days of lamentation. Holy Father, let your strength increase in my weakness, and my faith in you soar, even as my earthly body limps, and falls. Help me Father to be a beacon in my frailty, and draw many to you. Your grace is indeed sufficient for me, and in it my humility completes your plan for my life and my faith sings out! Holy, Holy, Holy art thou!!!
Rich Forbes