2/16- Declaring God’s Glory in cancer- Isaiah 25:4

2/16- Declaring God’s Glory in cancer- Isaiah 25:4

For you have been a refuge to the poor,
    a refuge to the needy in their distress,
    a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,(Isaiah 25:4)

Thoughts: Cancer is a malignant growth that takes away life from living healthy cells.  It is parasitic- living off the good until it kills the good.  This is the way of evil as well.  Evil is defined as the absence of good- it has no positive quality of its own.  Evil would seek (like cancer) to choke out the good- making it irrelevant and lifeless.
    But the giver of life has made a refuge.  He has made a shelter.  Cancer cannot take everything- it cannot take our soul while we are here, and it cannot take our eternal life.  Cancer is limited, and is conquered by the giver of all life- including eternal life. Because cancer may come back- it has the illusion of being perennial- but it isn't. Belief in God provides strength, hope, and courage that is hard to understand from the outside looking in. When Jesus walked on this earth he never gave a single person a disease- but instead healed many showing God's mercy and help.  Jesus still is the Great Physician and our refuge.
     For those facing cancer, and for those who are loved ones of those facing cancer: remember cancer does not win if God wins.  Cancer may cripple our body and bring pain and the torture of radiation, chemo, and surgery- but it does not win if God wins us.  In fact, when we declare God's glory in the midst of cancer, it makes a tremendous impact.  Sometimes cancer reveals what we all need to remember- what is truly important.  The things- nice clothes, nice car, nice houses, nice degrees will not last. However, God provides a refuge that cannot be taken away.  The love of God is a relationship that truly lasts beyond anything cancer can do to us.  So... we help God win by declaring His glory in the midst of cancer.  Christians who do not have cancer can declare His glory by praying, by serving, by helping. Cancer does not win if God wins- and in the end- He will win!  This needs to be declared!

Prayer: Lord, in my lowest, make me an instrument of your peace. Help me to see that even the giant cancer is small compared to you.  

Link to article by Tony Snow- White House Press Secretary speaking of his cancer in Christianity Today- well said!

Article by American Cancer Society on Spirituality and Cancer- secular view of spirituality and prayer.  I would say the San Francisco and Kansas study were very objective- while the Harvard study is simply about the placebo effect of prayer- not real prayer.