It is the unsparing thief that would rob you of your time, future, and loved ones. Cancer will attack forty percent of Americans. God bless family members and caregivers who support survivors and grieve their loss.
Many patients survive cancer. A diagnosis is still emotional because it reminds you how fragile and fleeting life is. You deny. You feel cheated, angry, or lost. You bargain with God or the universe. You reflect on deep spiritual questions. How can this be fair? Where is God in all this? Is there hope?
Thomas Lea was one of my seminary professors. At first, I did not know he was living with a cancer diagnosis. His students couldn’t tell from his demeanor in class. He was engaging and focused as we surveyed the New Testament together. When he finally did speak about it he used Paul’s words, “To keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh.” Like Paul, Dr. Lea accepted what was happening in his flesh in light of God’s revelation to us about grace and hope.
Paul asked three times for deliverance and healing. But God had already met Paul’s greatest need: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Given his mission, Paul could have assumed it only fair that God relieve him of his affliction. But God does better than fair; He does grace. God has already offered you more than you deserve: life, love, forgiveness, and eternity. “God has given grace,” Dr. Lea said, “to those who know and understand their weaknesses.” A weak body is reason to boast about the power of Christ who heals the sin sick soul.
We have hope despite this fallen world and the evil in it because God still accomplishes His good purposes. “I have renewed the conviction that God is sovereignly in charge, even in my sickness.” Dr. Lea said. “He has not left me. He is concerned about my spiritual good.” Consider his favorite passage about overcoming bitterness: “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).
Cancer may be a thorn, but oh, the healing balm when it magnifies God’s grace and illuminates the hope of eternity! I’ll let Dr. Lea have the final word: “May God grant that you might be spared from some of the diseases that can come upon us. But if it happens, know that there is grace for you – and that as you claim it, rejoice in it and let the strength of God be the light and lamp of your life.”
Thomas Lea left for the land of the living four years after cancer weakened his body but not his soul. He was 60.