Walking Through the Shadow of Death Why God?

Walking Through the Shadow of Death

Why God?

We should never ask “Why God?”

But “How God?”

How do you want me to handle the things I am facing?

Every good and perfect gift comes down from our Father above

But we don’t always get the gifts we ask for

Because God has something greater

 

Why God?

It was February, 2018, Sandy and I flew to Florida.

It was to be our longest escape from winter.

Two months of vacation, seeing

family and enjoying the sun.

My brother and sister in law,

Mike and Judy, live south of Tampa.

They have a bedroom with bath and TV in the room

(which we have never watched) that they call “our room”.

For years we have been blessed

with their love and generosity.

This trip was to be the best of all, we had scheduled several

getaways with them, one of them being Marathon Key.

Excitement of sharing life together was at its summit.

Dreams of what we could do together in the

years to come were our regular conversation.

We went to Daytona Beach for a few

days, shortly after we arrived in Florida.

One evening after we got back, we

were relaxing in their living room.

Suddenly without warning Judy

cried out with pain in her side.

I will never forget that moment as she grabbed

her side as another sharp pain attached her.

She knew it was a kidney stone and

Mike rushed her to the hospital.

After some testing we

discovered she had two stones.

But the worst news was they

found a mass around the pancreas.

The news was devastating.

But hope prevailed, hope that maybe

God used the stones to reveal the cancer.

After recovering from passing one stone and then

later having surgery to remove the other, they meet

with a specialist who did not hold out much hope.

One of their children had just got a job working

for a company who made CBD products and heard

miraculous testimonies of healing with this product.

The thought was…

Could the timing and discovery

of CBD be God’s answer?

It was determined by the doctor to

see how far the cancer had spread.

When the doctor was finished he told us

the cancer on a normal person would be

inoperable but Judy has an extra artery

which makes surgery an option and believed

through surgery the cancer could be removed.

As you can image we were filled with hope again.

The surgery date came and we were all excited.

The Doctor after a short time came out

and said the cancer was too far advanced and

there was no hope and sewed her back up.

Later they were told radiation

and chemo would be no help.

This part of the journey was filled with

the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Hope and hope crushed.

Questions of Why God?

There are times in your life when rocks fall down

the mountain but this time it was an avalanche.

 

It was very hard to see what God was up to.

It was hard to see God’s love.

It was hard to see the security of our heavenly

Father as every wave of hope was quickly crushed.

So what was going on?

Where was the God of Elijah

who called down fire from heaven?

I saw that our faith was tied to the things we hope for.

As long as we have hope our confident faith arises.

But when our hope is crushed

the confidence diminishes.

There was a battle not only in Judy’s physical

body, but a battle in everyone’s mind.

It was like a battle where a victory was won

than out of nowhere what was won was lost.

The emotional roller coaster brought

confusion to the logical word of faith.

We know Jesus healed the sick and healing

is one of the many gifts given to us.

Our hope needed to focus on our loving

God who gives the gifts as He wills.

We came to realize God may not give us the gift

of healing but gives us the greater Gift of Salvation.

As we put our faith in God’s love to

give us the Gift of Salvation the warfare

and wrestling turned into peace.

The devil lost his battle.

Our faith in God was more

than receiving His gifts on earth.

Our faith was in God who loves us so much He

died for us to have eternal life with Him forever.

It was at this point we realized the

greatest thing we could do was to have

peace with God and peace with each other.

All the promises are yes and a-men.

God has many gifts to give us.

Don’t let the battles confuse you.

Which would you rather have the

Gift of Salvation or the Gift of Healing?

Some receive both, but all who put their

faith in Jesus Christ receive the Gift of Salvation.

  

Don’t lose hope when the lesser gifts don’t come.

God gives them as He wills with His purpose.

We should never ask “Why God?”

But “How God?”

How do you want me to handle the things I am facing?

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 11:1-12:1 NIV

1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."   19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

23 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.  

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.