doctor's life support

2nd June: Fatalism or Faith

Come, now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town, and spend a year there...; whereas you do not know about tomorrow... Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that'. James 4:13-15

I am writing these words in hospital -- in bed, as a patient. I've just had a biopsy, and am awaiting the result. Is it inflammatory or malignant? I shall know in a few days. Whatever the result, God is in charge, and I know that he does all things well. This is not a kind of whistling to keep one's spirits up, or 'putting a brave face on it'; it is a sincere affirmation of complete faith in God and in his will. We make our plans -- and so we ought -- but always with the proviso 'if the Lord wills'.

Twenty-five years ago, I faced a similar situation. The lump was benign, but statistically it should have been malignant.

Forty-five years ago I was in another situation which might have spelt the end. I was facing an angry horde of armed savages in Central Africa advancing on me and my two African companions. I was scared. Then I remembered the promise, 'Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day' (Ps 91:5). God was there. Later that night we sang together:

'Ye that are men, now serve Him
Against unnumbered foes;'

and there were the foes lurking threateningly behind the forest trees. We encouraged each other with the words 'I will trust and not be afraid' (Is 12:2).

This note of confidence, of utter trust in God sounds strongly throughout scripture. Whatever the appearances, God is in charge. However black the night, however delayed and uncertain the dawn, God is still in charge; he always has been, 'out of them all the Lord delivered me' (2 Tim 3:11 AV); he is now, 'He delivered us...and he will yet deliver us' (2 Cor 1:10 AV); he always will be, 'Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me' (Ps 23:4).

Nothing -- no, nothing -- can separate us from the love of God. Rest in that assurance. 'Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for evermore' (Scottish Catechism).

God's will for us is to be enjoyed, not endured.

Further reading: 2 Cor 12:7-10. Rom 8:35-39.

SGB