Why Does God Allow Suffering? Part 2

In my last post, I delved into the question of why God would allow his children to suffer. While in a general sense, suffering is the result of living in a sin-cursed would, I mentioned that from a Christian’s perspective suffering offers us some unique opportunities. As stated in my last post, suffering offers us an opportunity to experience God’s grace, an opportunity to exercise our faith, and an opportunity to grow spiritually. Today I am going to dive into four more opportunities that suffering presents us with.

Suffering offers us an opportunity to become more Christ-like. One could argue that this is just another way of stating that suffering offers us the opportunity to grow spiritually. But we must consider that our spiritual growth is intended to make us more Christlike. One of the most beloved verses in the book of Romans in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” If I had a dime for every time I have heard that verse recited over the years, I would be a wealthy man. It is a verse that gives us hope that even during the difficult times God is working everything together for our good. However, our definition of good and God’s definition of good are often two very different things. Far too often we stop at the end of verse 28 without considering verse 29: “For who He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to (pressed into the mold of) His Son…” The good that God is working in verse 28 is our conformity to the image of Christ. Suffering, therefore, as a part of the “all things” in verse 28 offers us an opportunity to become more like Christ. One of the things that I have prayed for is that, even in the midst of our battle with cancer, our lives would point others to Jesus Christ.

Suffering also offers the believer an opportunity to experience the body of Christ in action. If I were to chronicle all of the ways that God’s people have been a blessing to our family during this journey, I suspect they would fill a book. When word got out about Michael’s leukemia diagnosis, God’s people stepped up in a huge way. The outpouring of love from our church and our school has been overwhelming. We have had brothers and sisters in Christ that we have never met before reach out to us and let us know that they are praying for us. The cards, the gifts, and the prayers with and for us have been such an incredible blessing. God has repeatedly brought us into contact with other brothers and sisters in Christ who have already walked this journey with leukemia. Their wisdom, prayer and encouragement during some of the hardest moments have meant more to us than words can adequately express. Over and over again we have been the recipients of God’s blessings through his people.

A number of months ago, my brother-in-law called me and relayed to me a conversation that my niece had with him. She asked him two questions: “Is Michael going to be ok?” and “Why did God allow Michael to get cancer?” I told my brother-in-law yes to the first question, because one way or another, Michael will be ok. All signs point to him making a completely recovery, but if for some reason he doesn’t and “the worst” should happen, Michael will be immediately ushered into the presence of his Savior. And he will be better than he has ever been in his life! You see there was a time in Michael’s life when he admitted he was a sinner, believed that Jesus died on the cross to save him from his sins, and asked Jesus to come into his life and save him. And when that happened Michael’s soul was saved from sin and eternal death, and his home in heaven was secured.

To the second question, I told my brother-in-law to tell my niece that God allowed Michael to get cancer so that we could experience the blessings of God in ways that never could have otherwise. We have watched God provide for our needs in ways we never could have anticipated. We have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the country and around the world praying for us. It has been such an amazing blessing to experience that body of Christ in action

Suffering also gives us an opportunity to comfort others who are suffering.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. A few weeks ago, during Michael’s most recent hospital stay, my path crossed with a dad (Matt) of a 3-year-old boy (Jameson) who had just recently been diagnosed with cancer. And as Matt shared the details with me of how his family’s entire world was turned upside down in a matter of a few hours, I was able to look him in the eye and tell him, “I know exactly what you are going through. I understand what it’s like to have your life completely turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis.” I have found during our hospital stays that I have an instant connection with many of the parents on the 7th floor of Mott that I meet. All of us are there because we have a child going through something terrible. There is a camaraderie that comes with shared suffering, with knowing that someone else knows exactly what you are going through. And that knowledge give us an opportunity to be a comfort to those going through similar circumstances.

Finally suffering is an opportunity to showcase the works of God. In John 9, Jesus and his disciples come upon a man that the Bible tells us had been blind from birth. The assumption of the day was that if you were afflicted with a physical disability such as blindness, then either your or your parents must have committed some terrible sin. And in verse 2 Jesus’ disciples ask Him “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” To be honest, I don’t really understand how the disciples could have thought that this man’s blindness that he was born with could somehow be a result of his own sin. But regardless, Jesus’ answer is profound: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

The entire reason that the man was born blind and suffered for years with this physical disability was so that one day Jesus would pass by and showcase His divine power in healing him. I understand that not everyone will be healed from their physical disability, but my prayer is that as we go through our journey with Michael’s cancer we would see God work in God-sized ways, that somehow the works of God would be showcased in our lives. I pray that we would be instruments to point others to the glorious goodness of our great God! One thing specifically that I have been praying is that we would see at least one person come to saving faith in Jesus Christ as a result of Michael going through cancer.

It's important to understand that opportunities can be taken or rejected. If I wallow in frustration and self-pity, I will miss the opportunities that this journey with cancer is presenting me. If allow myself to become angry with God or bitter, I will miss out on the blessings that God has for me and my family during our journey with cancer. My hearts desire is, that by God’s grace, I will make the most of the opportunities that suffering offers a believer.

The last couple of weeks have gone by quickly. When I last wrote Michael was being put on Blinatumomab, an immunotherapy drug designed to turbo charge Michael’s immune system to fight his leukemia. The huge praise is that this time it only took a few days for Michael’s body to adjust to the drug. Michael was put on the Blin on a Monday afternoon, and we were able to come home from the hospital that Thursday morning. We have had two visits to Ann Arbor since then, but they have been short compared to other visits because Michael is doing so well. Two weeks ago, we were in and out of the hospital in about an hour. Yesterday, we were in and out in about two hours. I didn’t get a whole lot of time to write during either visit. Michael is feeling great. His energy is up, and all of his numbers from his blood work are strong. We are going to enjoy a few more weeks of him feeling good before we go back on what I refer to has the “hard chemo” drugs.

My back continues to be an issue, although the pain has subsided substantially. While I am grateful for that, what really has me concerned is the prolonged numbness in my right hip. This is something that I have never experienced before prior to my back flaring up over the Labor Day Weekend. Yesterday evening I had an MRI. I am praying that the MRI will show us definitively what is going on. In the meantime, we keep plugging away, grateful for each day that God gives us, and asking Him to help us most of it for His glory.