Flex Your Spiritual Muscles

Twelve years ago today, I was given a diagnosis of stage 3C cancer. I was devastated and struggled to have hope. It became one of the hardest realities in my life. It seemed God was silent when I had been living my life to please Him and yet here I was experiencing great suffering. I had no explanation for why I should go through this.

Early in my Christian walk, I would stay away from the book of Job because it was scary to me what Job suffered through. He was tested to an extreme but his life had been built on God. Job’s friends came to visit him and began to try to figure out the reasons for Job’s tragedies. They told him sin had caused his suffering. They told him to confess and turn back to God. When they failed to convince Job, they fell silent. Finally, God spoke out of a mighty storm and Job was confronted with the great power and majesty of God. He fell into humble reverence before Him – speechless. Yes, the first 41 chapters of Job focuses on his pain and misery but do we forget about chapter 42? The final word is not pain and loss but blessing and fulfillment. He lived a full life. God never abandoned Job. The book of Job is not about a man who had an awful string of bad luck; it’s about a man who experienced restoration multiplied. He regained his possessions doubled!

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I had a similar experience. Friends would send me books about options for people with cancer. Friends would ask me if I had great sin in my life. They would send me fancy healing oils from Israel. I knew they all meant well. Through my journey, I, too, had been “confronted” with the majesty of God and I am in awe and reverence for all He has done. He didn’t heal me miraculously, but he allowed me to go through it with him to activate and use my spiritual muscles. I experienced restoration, healing and purpose.

Another perspective on that difficult journey with cancer would be that I had prayed that God would give me a deeper faith and a closer walk with Him. So was cancer an answer to my prayer even though it wasn’t what I wanted or asked for? If I prayed for deeper faith and growing closer to Him, did God just heal me the way He did over a year’s time or did He give me the opportunity to use my spiritual muscles for our relationship to go deeper and closer?

Regardless, God is faithful. “God is forever faithful and can be trusted.” 1 Cor. 1:9a God gives us hope. “My intention is not to harm you but to surround you with peace and prosperity and to give you a beautiful future glistening with hope.” Jer. 29:11 Even when He is silent, He is still with you and working in your situation. “Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God.” Psalm 46:10a He will restore you. “This very day, I vow I will restore to you double blessing for your trouble.” Zech. 9:12b

“And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in His eternal glory in Christ will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever! Yes, He will set you firmly in place and build you up.” I Peter 5:10