The Jelly Belly Journal         April 30, 2008

"There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.  There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation -- the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands -- the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne."

"On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah.  Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne.  They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion the worlds and make the stars.  They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties.  They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the ever-moving waves of the ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth."

"And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love.  But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach.  It is God upon the throne whom we trust."

I read those words for the first time last week as a quotation of Charles Spurgeon in the book, The Attributes of God, by Arthur W. Pink. It was the first paragraph that really caught my attention, and this phrase in particular: "Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions."  This is not the kind of talk we hear from today's TV preachers.  You have to read stuff written by dead theologians to discover that God might actually have a degree of suffering and hardship in store for you.  Or you could just read the New Testament (Hebrews 11 and 12 in particular).

Tonight, I read another chapter from my good friend Mr. Pink, entitled The Faithfulness of God.  Yet more counter-evangelical food for thought.  This is food for the soul:

I believe I can say with all honesty that the first five days of my stay at UPMC was the worst physical and mental experience of my entire life.  I have never known such misery.  It may be that I'm just a wimpy guy and I should be forever grateful that I will never experience childbirth.  Be that as it may, I will not go into all the awful details except to say that for five days I did not eat or sleep.  Because of a tube that was inserted through my nose and into my stomach, I fought off a powerful gag reflex constantly during those five days, around the clock.  A fun time was not had by anyone, especially me.

There are those within Christendom who would question how God could possibly be glorified in such a situation.  The option which is presumably far superior would be miraculous healing.  Certainly, the Lord Jesus did indeed glorify Himself through the miraculous healing of multitudes, and there is absolutely no doubt that He can and does still do so at least on occasion today.  But according to my experience, and that of the vast majority of the Christians I've known for the past 40 years, that is not the norm.  And it is not because the believer has minuscule faith.  It should take far less faith to be healed of the worst disease than to have a multitude of sins forgiven.  Jesus said as much when He said to the paralytic who had been lowered through the roof in Mark, chapter 2, "Your sins are forgiven."  Which was greater?  To make a paralyzed man walk, or to forgive His sins?  It is a rhetorical question.

I submit to you that miraculous healing is overrated, partly because of that text.  Of course, I would have been happy to be the recipient of such a thing, and would still be overjoyed to wake up tomorrow pain-free and with no scars.  I'm still feeling the effects constantly, but bearably.  However, I'm reminded of the ten lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17, simply by speaking the word.  Nine of them were not impressed enough by this astounding turn of events to even thank Him.  How did their healing glorify Christ?  It didn't, as far as we can see in the text.

I believe the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that affliction and suffering are very often the means through which the believer is moved closer, not farther away from, God.  It is the "worldling", as Spurgeon so quaintly states it, that constantly craves deliverance from affliction and suffering above all else.  Salvation seems to be an almost trivial matter to many such folks, when compared with being rescued from physical ailments and debilitating diseases.  Certainly there is more glory to God in the miraculous restoration of a person with cancer, than there is in bringing him through surgery successfully!  (Or even in the forgiveness of all his sins!)

Apparently not.  Who would know the name Joni Eareckson Tada, had she not broken her neck forty years ago in a diving accident?  Who ever would have heard of Corrie Ten Boom, had she not lived through the days of the Nazi concentration camps?  Why do we respect men like Dietrich Bonheoffer?  Richard Wurmbrand?  There is an entire book, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, dedicated to those good and faithful servants, who since the days of the persecutions of the first century, remained firm in their confidence in God to deliver them from death, either in this life or in the resurrection.  They brought glory to God in their suffering.

Who are the great heroes of the faith in the Bible?  There are many who are noted for performing great feats, such as Moses and Samson.  Abraham was notable for believing God's promise that he would have a son, in spite of his very old age.  There are many such examples of great faith.  But most of the biblical heroes are those who suffered well for God.  They are those who believed in God and trusted Him in the face of persecution and death.  (See Hebrews 11) 

Just so you know, I do not think for a moment that I am in the same league with the above mentioned giants of the faith.  Far from it.  The point I am trying to make is that God often brings glory to Himself through the faithfulness of His servants in their suffering.  Jesus is the prime and most obvious example who is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah as the Suffering Servant.  But when a Christian suffers, he knows a sovereign God has a good purpose in it.  God's sovereign hand rules over it, God's sovereign plan has brought it, and God's sovereign power will bring him through it.

I will confess, there were a few moments during my hospital stay when I truly did not care if I lived or died.  But having survived the ordeal, the verse that eventually came to mind was, "God's strength is made perfect in our weakness."  In my situation, I believe the verse should have read, "God's strength was made perfect in my total impotence."  I had no power, no strength, no will to continue.  It was God who brought me through those dark, hopeless days.  He used various means, such as doctors, nurses, medications, and certainly my wonderful wife.  But I was powerless.  Like the prophet Isaiah, I was "undone".  The Lord delivered me from all my fears (Ps 34:4).

It has been four weeks since surgery.  When anyone calls or emails and asks how I'm doing, I describe it like this: Four weeks ago, I felt like I was hit by a train.  Three weeks ago, I felt like I was hit by a Mack truck.  Two weeks ago, a U-Haul.  Last week, a pick-up.  This week, a Mini Cooper.  Now I'm looking forward to being hit by a tricycle in a couple of weeks.  Every day feels better, and thank the Lord, I can tell I'm making progress. Yesterday, I saw my Primary Care Physician.  He looked at Dr. Holtzman's report regarding the entire procedure and said something like, "Man, considering everything they did to you, you're doing great!"  That was good to hear.  I lost about 15 pounds but have apparently gained about five of them back.  So things are really looking up.

But what are the spiritual issues, the spiritual lessons from all of this?  I'm still sorting those out and I may never understand all the purposes in this experience.  However, this much I know: "I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you."  The Lord Jesus never, ever, even in the most bleak and miserable hours during the middle of those unbearably long nights -- He never left me alone.  I was never for a moment forsaken.  And I knew that.  I knew He was with me and none of this was an accident or purposeless.  Everything we experience as believers is meaningful and purposeful, designed by a faithful God as part of an all-wise plan to complete the work He has begun in us.  There is great comfort in that, and I thank God He is just such a God as that.

I am very glad to be home now, glad to be sitting in my Lazy Boy recliner, glad to be able to write to you about my "adventure."  I'm very, VERY glad the worst is over.  Dr. H said he may not need to see me again for another ten years!  No offense, Doc, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I never saw you again.  Nevertheless, that isn't my call.  The Lord knows His plans for me.  So I leave it with my faithful Creator to do whatever He in His infinite wisdom deems best for His servant.

I'll close with an excerpt from one of my favorite hymns:

Grace and peace,

Keith