Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 65

What Won’t Be in Heaven… and What Will Forever Be There

Meditate on these profound words from Scripture: “There shall no longer be any curse” (Revelation 22:3). The hope, the promise, the anticipation of this verse is inexpressible— it is weighty, thick with promise and joy.

In preparation for a message I shared at my  home church this summer, titled, “No More Curse,” I wrote out a list with two parts: what we will forever more experience on the New Earth, and what will we NOT experience on the New Earth because of “No more Curse.”

Here's a clip from the message, where I talk about this:

You can read the full list here.

What are you most looking forward to on the New Earth? What are you grateful won’t be there? Remember, we’ll have the good that’s the opposite of all the bad—the blessings that correspond to the absence of the curses.

I can’t wait.

For more on the eternal Heaven, the New Earth, see Randy’s book  Heaven . You can also browse our additional resources on Heaven.

Photo by J. Balla Photography on Unsplash

Clinging to Scripture Sustains Us Through Suffering

In times of crisis we try to make sense of life. We crave perspective for our minds and relief for our hearts. We need our worldview realigned by God’s inspired Word: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). God promises that His Word “will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

A woman self-consciously told one of our pastors that before going to sleep each night she reads her Bible, then hugs it as she falls asleep. “Is that weird?” she asked. While it may be unusual, it’s not weird. This woman has known suffering, and as she clings to His promises, she clings to God. Any father would be moved to hear that his daughter falls asleep with his written words held close to her. Surely God treasures such an act of childlike love.

In a time of dark suffering and dread, David affirmed, “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?... Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.... Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.... I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:1, 3, 10, 13–14).

Notice how David talks to himself about God’s faithfulness and goodness, encouraging himself to wait on God. It’s worth listening to self-talk if it involves speaking God’s Word.

Years ago I turned off talk radio when I drive, to listen to the Bible instead. Scripture on audio accompanies me as I travel. I never regret investing my time this way—why listen to one more human voice when you can listen to God’s? It prepares me to face whatever lies ahead. “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

In this 2-minute video, from a 2019 interview, I talk about the importance of God's Word in hard times:

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book  If God Is Good , as well as the devotional  90 Days of God’s Goodness  and book  The Goodness of God . Also, the booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt? deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photo by Anna Hecker on Unsplash

Hope That Anchors Our Waiting Hearts

From Randy: One of our pastors at Good Shepherd Community Church, Jerayl DeVelvis, quoted from the following article, by Courtney Doctor, in an outstanding sermon this past weekend. It so resonated with both of us that I looked it up and Nanci and I read the whole article. It captured our own thoughts and feelings more than nearly anything we’ve read. 

This is being posted on a day when Nanci is going in for yet another major procedure, this time to deal with a presumably malignant tumor blocking her airway and making her breathing difficult. (Updates are posted on Nanci’s CaringBridge.)

“But don’t you pray for healing?” I’ve been asked. Of course. We have prayed daily and earnestly for complete healing for Nanci for over three and a half years. That continues to be our prayer, and countless others have prayed the same for her. 

We haven’t given up, but we do realize that GOD IS GOD AND WE ARE NOT! He is all-loving, all-good and all-wise. We ASK Him to heal Nanci, we don’t TELL Him to do so, because He is the Master, and we are His servants as well as His children.

Our faith is not in our faith. Our faith is in our God. We answer to Him, He does not answer to us. Please join us in asking—not demanding—that our gracious God would heal Nanci. And that today He would guide the procedure and help her to breathe better and recover well. We love Him and we entrust ourselves to His sovereign loving care, without reservation.

Hope for Waiting Hearts

By Courtney Doctor

I had a horse named Carson who was practically perfect in every way—as long as she was moving. The minute she had to stand still and wait, she would pace back and forth, stomp her feet, and throw her head. I would run back and forth to the tack room to hurry and saddle her because she would create such a restless ruckus. As long as she was moving, she was calm, obedient, and a joy. But when she had to wait, she was a night“mare.”

Honestly, I empathized with her. I’m not good at waiting either. I would much rather be moving forward. Somewhere. Anywhere. But sitting quietly and waiting is hard for me. So can you guess what God has me doing right now? Waiting. My husband and I are in a season of waiting for God to show us what’s next—where we should go and what we should do.

But we’re not the only ones. I have a friend waiting for the lab results from her husband’s biopsy. Another friend is waiting for a reprieve from an emotionally devastating situation. Yet another continues to wait and hope for a child. These are not light things to wait for. Psalm 37:7 tells us to “be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” Unlike Carson, I want to learn how to do this—to be still as I wait.

I recently heard a pastor say, “The waiting may be hard, but it never leads to disappointment.” The truth of that statement rests entirely on what we think we are waiting for. In other words, the question isn’t simply what am I waiting for, but what am I hoping in? I’m learning that waiting and hope are intimately tied together.

Waiting, by definition, has something hoped for at the end of the wait. We are waiting/hoping for the right job. My friends are waiting/hoping for a good report, relief, and a baby. But what if those things aren’t given? God never promises that our seasons of waiting will end by receiving exactly what we want. Not all infertility ends with a baby. Not all cancer ends with a cure. Not all singleness ends with a spouse. Which means that our hope can’t be anchored in the thing we’re waiting for. Our hope has to be anchored in something far greater—the promises and character of God.

Hope in His Promises

I passed a billboard on my way to the airport this morning that proclaimed, “Jesus heals cancer. You don’t have to die.” Where in the world do we see that in Scripture? They’re claiming a promise God never made—and giving a hope that’s not ours to hold. The psalmist said, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Ps. 130:5). Our hope has to be anchored in the promises God has given us in Scripture. Here are just a few:

I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26).
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Rom. 8:34).
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (John 14:2–3).

These are anchors for your soul. When you’re in a season of waiting and feel yourself becoming anxious, run to these and remind yourself of the hope that is yours.

Hope in His Character

Hope also has to be anchored in the character of our God—the unwavering goodness, faithfulness, and sovereignty of the One making the promises. Psalm 46 reminds us to “be still, and know that I am God” (i.e., know who I am!). Knowing the nature and character of God is to know rest, even in the midst of turmoil. Why? Because what God does flows out of who God is—which means that if He is good, then His ways are good. And if His ways are good, then His answers are good—even when they’re hard.

Unfortunately, we don’t always view life that way, do we? It’s far too easy to view God’s character through the lens of our situation, instead of the other way around. If we’re going through a hard time, then God must be harsh. Or, if we are going through a trial, then God must be angry. Or if we aren’t getting what we want, then God must be unjust or unkind.

But that is using a backwards lens. Flip it around and view your circumstances through the lens of God’s character. If he is for us (Ps. 56:9), then He is working for us in this trial. If He is our refuge, our strength, and our salvation (Ps. 18:2; Isa. 12:2), then we are safe. If He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love (Ex. 34:6), then we can rest in the fact that He will be merciful, gracious, and loving to us. If He is great and awesome (Neh. 1:5), then He is able to work mightily in the midst of our waiting. The list could go on and on. The point is that we need to remember who our God is—and then view our circumstances through the lens of his character. We need to be still and know that He is God.

What Are You Waiting For?

As the Israelites waited for God to return them to their land, Isaiah reminded them that “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31). And the same is true for us. If you’re waiting on something, remember that, ultimately, it’s the Lord you’re waiting on.

If your hope is set on getting what you want, then you stand the chance of being deeply disappointed, even disillusioned. But if we hope in the One who is utterly good, completely for us, whose Word is sure, and whose ways are perfect, then that hope will never disappoint. So when the trials come and you are called to wait and be patient, wait well by anchoring your hope in the One whose promises are sure and whose character never fails.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition and is used with the author’s permission. Learn more about Courtney on her website.

Photo by Wallace Chuck from Pexels

A Flood Swept Away His Wife and Children: The Story of Robert Rogers

In writing my book If God Is Good, I interviewed dozens of believers who have experienced deep suffering firsthand. One of those people was Robert Rogers, whose entire family drowned in a 2003 Kansas flash flood. In a moment he lost his beloved wife and all four of his children. (If God Is Good is dedicated to Robert and many other faithful sufferers, whose extraordinary stories touched my heart.)

The Christ-centered Rogers family went to church, tithed, read the Bible, and prayed together. After the disaster, Robert entered a dark world of Job-like suffering. On the worst day of his life, his ten children taken from him, Job worshiped God. On the worst day of his life, when a flood swept away his wife and four children, Robert turned to God in worship. He told me he did so, not because he didn’t feel the loss; on the contrary, he felt it so deeply that he could not lose the one object he had left to grab on to: God. He couldn’t function, couldn’t go on living, without worshiping God.

We dare not wait for a time of crisis to learn how to worship God. Job and Robert both worshiped God in crisis because they worshiped God before the crisis. If we learn now the meaning of God’s sovereignty and goodness, a biblical theology of suffering will sustain us when suffering comes.

You can watch Robert share more about his story in this 8-minute video:

Robert writes: “God is a God of restoration. In 2003, my precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters drowned in the Kansas flash-flood. Now, by the grace of God, He has blessed me with a precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters! This can only be the hand of God! I cherish my family on earth and in Heaven more than words can contain. ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!’ (Psalm 34:8 NLT).”

If you’d like to know more about Robert’s story and ministry, see his website.

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

10 Ways to Find Rest in Christ, from Samuel Annesley

These are some great thoughts from Puritan Samuel Annesley (c. 1620-1696) on how we can find spiritual rest. (By the way, one of Samuel’s daughters, Susanna, was the mother of John and Charles Wesley, making Samuel Annesley the grandfather of John Wesley.)

How can we live with a conscience that is pacified by the blood of Christ? Christians, be persuaded to practice these:

1. Take heed of every sin, count no sin small.

2. Set upon the healing duty of repentance.

3. Compose thyself to live as under God. You cannot deceive him, for he is Infinite Wisdom; you cannot fly from him, for he is everywhere; you cannot bribe him, for he is Righteousness itself.

4. Be serious and frequent in the examination of your heart and life. This is so necessary to the getting and keeping of a right and peaceable conscience, that it is impossible to have either without it.

5. Be much in prayer, in all manner of prayer, but especially in private prayer.

6. Let your whole life be a preparation for heaven. Strip yourself of all encumbrances, that thou mayest attend unto piety. Pleasures may tickle you for a while; but they have a heart-aching farewell. You may call your riches good; but within a few days, what good will they do you? Men may flatter you for your greatness; but with God your account will be the greater.

7. Live more upon Christ than upon inherent grace. Do not venture upon sin because Christ hath purchased a pardon; that is a most horrible and impious abuse of Christ.

8. Be, every way, nothing in your own eyes. It is the humble soul that thrives exceedingly. And, alas! what have we to be proud of?

9. Entertain good thoughts of God. We never arrive to any considerable holiness or peace till we lose ourselves in Deity;

10. Do all you do out of love to God. Spiritual love-sickness is the soul’s most healthy constitution. When love to God is the cause, means, motive, and end of all our activity then the soul takes flight towards rest.

O my soul, you are so little, why won’t you open all your little doors; why won’t you extend your utmost capacity, that you mayest be wholly possessed, wholly satiated, wholly ravished with the sweetness of so great love?

O, therefore, my most loving God, I beseech thee, tell me what may most effectually draw out my love to thee, considering what prevention of love, what privative, positive good things I receive from thee, infinite in greatness, infinite in multitude!

This post originally appeared on The Park Forum .

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash

How to Deal with Church When You’ve Been Really Hurt

Over the last year and a half, many Christians got angry at their churches for gathering or not gathering, going online or not going online, wearing masks or not wearing masks, or obeying or disobeying government mandates, or speaking up on political issues and candidates or not speaking up on them or speaking up on them in the wrong ways. It’s simply endless. There are many people who stopped going to church during COVID who will not resume in the future. 

I know there are other and deeper reasons for feeling hurt by your church. Trust me, Nanci and I realize what it is like to be hurt by church people and church leaders. And I’m sure, though we’ve never set out to do so, we have hurt our own church people and our church leaders. Which leads me to believe that most of them never set out to hurt us, right?

I can tell you this—we have never felt hurt less and less often by our church and church leaders than we have in the last number of years. Why? Because while we have lowered the bar of the expectations we have for the church and its leaders always living up to what it might, we have raised the bar for our own attitudes toward the church and its leaders being what they should. We seek to practice what Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

So the question is, are you treating your fellow church members as you wish they would treat you? If you wish they would be kind to you and interested and engaged in your own life and concerned about your challenges and reaching out to you in love and offering help to them, are you doing that to them? And if you were a church leader, how would you want people to view you and treat you? Would you want them to believe the best of you, that you are genuinely trying to honor the Lord and love the church, and do the right thing to help the most people, and to pray for them and go to them humbly when you believe there’s a problem they should deal with? If so, then is that what you are doing toward them?

Sadly, hurt from church is eating up many people and distracting them from moving on in their spiritual lives and keeping them from church altogether. In this spot-on video, Allen Parr answers the question, “How do you respond when you’ve given your life, your time, and a whole bunch of your money to a church only to be disappointed and hurt?”

I love his answer, and I suggest you listen to it, and then return and finish this blog:

Jesus calls the church His bride. He died for her and says that ultimately the gates of hell won’t prevail against her. So if you give up on the church, you give up on God’s plan. If you walk away from church, you walk away from Christ’s redemptive work. If you say you love Jesus, but you’ll no longer be around the church, you’re saying to Jesus, “I love you, but I can’t stand your bride. I’ll hang out with you, but I refuse to be with her.” If you said that to me, I’d say, “If you don’t want to be with my wife, you and I won’t be hanging out together—she’s too important to me for you to shun her like that.” That’s how much I love Nanci, but I’ve never come down from Heaven in order to die for her, like Jesus did for His bride.

As I said, we are not naïve about church problems!  But we are also not strangers to the beauty and goodness and local and global fruit of church life—though we would be had we chosen to walk away from church the various times we were tempted to. (Of course, God can call people to leave a church and go to or even start another one, and that happened to us many years ago! My concern is with giving up on all churches, which is increasingly common. See Why You Should Think Twice Before Switching Churches Right Now.)

Despite what many think, not giving up on church is a huge part of our moving forward in our walk with Christ. My encouragement is this: show to church people the same tolerance you advocate that church people show to the world. In fact, Scripture goes a step further. We are to do good to all men (and to show them tolerance is to do them good), but especially to the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). You are family. Treat Christ’s people as family.

We are to “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). All Bible passages about forgiveness involve lowering our expectations of our brothers and sisters in Christ and not insisting they live up to our standards, or demanding perfection we don’t measure up to ourselves. God’s grace should calm us and cheer us. (See The Art of Forgiveness.)

I’ll finish by recapping Allen’s six excellent points on how to deal with church hurt:

1. Don’t allow a bad experience to cause you to drift.

2. Extend grace to your leaders.

3. Don’t judge all churches by one church.

4. Bring it to the church’s attention.

5. Resist the urge to speak negatively about the church.

6. Forgive those who have hurt you.

Allen says, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been frustrated, bitter and angry with church or church leaders but I still go, give, support, and serve because I know that the church is what Jesus is using to reach the world, and I desperately want to be a part of anything that Jesus is building.”

Amen!

Giving Has a Boomerang Effect

Scripture is full of God’s words to generous givers: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty” (Proverbs 3:9-10). But God doesn’t intend for us to keep everything He brings into our barns! We are to distribute it generously. We give to Him, He gives to us, and we keep giving it back to Him, recognizing that it belongs to Him anyway. Jesus says, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38, NLT).

Recalling the words of one of his customers, R. G. LeTourneau put it this way: “I try to shovel out more for God than He can for me, but He always wins. He’s got a bigger shovel.” As many others have, he lived out the proverb: “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24-25, NLT).

In some cases God’s extra provision is obvious—we get an unexpected check in the mail or are given something we thought we’d have to buy. One time Nanci and I discovered an error we’d made in our bank balance, finding we had significantly more money than we realized.

In other cases, God’s provision is less obvious but equally generous. A washing machine that should have broken down a decade ago keeps working. A car with more than two hundred thousand miles runs for three years needing no repairs. A checking account that should have dried up long before the end of the month somehow makes it through. As God miraculously stretched the widow’s oil supply in Elisha’s day (2 Kings 4:1-7), and as He made the Israelites’ clothes and sandals last forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4), I’m convinced He sometimes graciously extends the life of things that would normally need replacement.

Consider Bob, who decided he wanted to give sacrificially when his church started a building campaign to expand their crowded sanctuary. Every morning he’d made a Suisse Mocha coffee. He calculated that if he gave up this habit for three years, he’d be able to give an additional $780.

As part of his church’s financial campaign, Bob gave a short speech at church, mentioning his plan to forgo his coffee.

Two days later, he received a call from a woman asking if he was the Mr. Hodgdon who spoke at church. That evening she delivered a box to him, introducing herself as a General Foods employee. Inside were several months’ worth of Suisse Mocha, the same product Bob had given up. Bob added, “The strange thing is, I’ve never seen or heard from her since. I’ve looked for her at every church service, but maybe it was one of God’s angels. You just cannot out-give God.”

This small thing wasn’t small to Bob. It showed his Father’s gracious kindness to him and prompted him, in a childlike way, to trust and give even more.

This is not health-and-wealth gospel or prosperity theology. I’m certainly not saying that God must always give back to us exactly what we give up, or ten or a hundred times more, in some kind of karma-like transaction or misapplication of Mark 10:30. Sometimes He gives us joy or patience or endurance as we make real sacrifices for Him—and such intangible gifts are considerably more precious than a stash of morning coffee. But aren’t you glad God sometimes rewards us with little things to remind us of His love and approval?

See more resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books, including  Giving Is the Good Life .

Photo; Pexels

“Please Continue to Pray”: An Update on Christian Persecution in Nigeria

Two weeks ago I shared a firsthand account of the persecution of Nigerian Christians from my friend Samuel Kunhiyop. The situation in Nigeria keeps getting worse. Please pray. 

One international study showed that 3,462 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in the first 200 days of 2021—a number equal to 17 Christians being murdered every day in Africa’s most populous country. And the killings just keep happeing.

International Christian Concern reports, “Thirty-seven Christians were brutally murdered late Tuesday night [August 25] in Yelwan Zangam community, Jos North LGA, Plateau State. …The attack is suspected to be perpetrated by jihadist Fulani herdsmen, the fourth deadliest terror group in the world which has surpassed Boko Haram as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.”

In a follow-up report, they say, “In a pattern that has repeated itself for years, the governor of Plateau State barely reacted to the killing of Christians early in the month but responded strongly when a group of Muslims was killed, even visiting victims in the hospital and promising to pay for their medical expenses.”

Christian Headlines explains, “In this year’s World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria broke into the top 10 for the first time, jumping to No. 9 from No. 12 the previous year. Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.”

“Unceasing tears have continued to roll in our eyes as a nation and people even as this note is penned down,” one spokesman for an ethnic group said. “The terror being unleashed by Fulani herdsmen on Irigwe Christians has continued unabated and without any sign of remorse or regret.”

Samuel sent another update this week, asking for continued prayer:

I wish to acknowledge with gratitude to the triune God your prayers and financial support you have rendered to the brethren in Nigeria, particularly the believers in Southern Kaduna. So far, the total amount is about $18,000. At the moment, $10,000 is being used to buy foodstuff and medicines. After taking these foodstuff and medicines, we will assess the situation as more people have been displaced and see how best to use the funds to help meet some of these needs. Please pray for wisdom and safety in travels.

We actually wanted to take these items to the displaced believers in the two camps, but we could not move out of Jos because of a curfew that the government has imposed because of killings at the beginning of the week. Jos is the capital city of Plateau State which is actually a neighboring state to Kaduna where Yelwa and I come from. On Tuesday, over thirty people (men, women, and children) were murdered, and the Christian youths protested threatening a reprisal. The angry youths carried 17 of the corpses and dumped them in front of the governor’s office. There was tension everywhere.  A 24-hour curfew was immediately imposed, and we have been indoors ever since. There have been protests against the government and the security outfits who are biased and always looked the other way when Christians are being killed. … As soon as the curfew is lifted, we will buy the medicines which a Christian doctor helped in prescribing. We will then take these items to the two camps by the weekend.

Now to Southern Kaduna. The attacks, killings, abductions, and destruction of property have continued unabated in the Southern part of Kaduna State. In the last one week alone there have been three separate attacks in three different villages (all Christians). In one village that is predominantly Roman Catholic, 17 people were killed (13 women and 4 men) and their houses and farmlands destroyed. In the other two villages, 6 persons were murdered with their property also destroyed. People are living in constant fear.

Most shocking of all, attacks happed on Monday when gunmen (Islamists) attacked the Nigeria Military Academy in Kaduna and killed two senior officers and abducted one major! …If a military institution can be successfully attacked, its military personnel killed and abducted, who is safe?  

I know you are praying but please do not get tired—continue to pray. Christians know that the government which is led by a Muslim has the explicit agenda of making Nigeria an Islamic State. That is why they are killing and destroying all the villages and towns that are predominantly Christians so that they can take over. …We pray that God will have mercy on His remnant and spare us and above all that His name will be glorified.

Thanks, friends and brethren, for standing by us during these difficult and challenging times.

If you would like to give to this cause you can donate to EPM’s persecuted church special fund. 100% of donations will be given to worthy organizations helping persecuted believers, including those in Nigeria. You can also give directly to a ministry our brother Samuel recommends, helping believers in Southern Kaduna, by mailing a check to BILD International, 2400 Oakwood Road Ames, IA 50014-8417. Please indicate that the money is meant for Southern Kaduna Support c/o of Dr. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop. Another option is to call BILD’s office at (515)292-7012 to make your designated gift.

Thank you, King Jesus, for your loyalty to us and to every one of our suffering brothers and sisters in Nigeria, Afghanistan, North Korea, and all around the world. Thank you for promising a kingdom where righteousness will reign, and joy will be the air we breathe. May that kingdom come quickly—and until it does, may you find us faithful.

“My Cancer Is God’s Servant”: Reflections by Nanci Alcorn

Note from Randy: Nanci read the following to me from her journal a few days ago, and I asked her if we could use it as a blog. As many of you know, she has been battling cancer for over three years now. (You can read the latest update on her CaringBridge page.)

We are grateful for everyone’s love and prayers, and are fully trusting God in this. Nanci has never doubted or questioned Him just because so far the prayers for total healing have gone unanswered. She has a big view of God, and a truly eternal perspective. I am very proud of her, and God has ministered to me through her in great ways.

My Cancer Is God’s Servant

Lately I have been immersed in the Psalms.  In them the steadfast love of God for His people is expressed during great trouble as well as great blessing. When our hearts begin to grasp the character of God as revealed in His Word, our faith and trust in His ways digs deeper into our souls. The benefits and delights of knowing and obeying God’s Word is the theme of Psalm 119. Here are a few “treasures” found in verses 68-93:

“You are good and do good… it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes… Your hands have made and fashioned me… Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word… I know, O LORD [Yahweh, God’s personal name], that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me… let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight… In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth… you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.”

As is God’s promise, my meditation upon these words brought instruction and great delight to my soul. I jotted down some observations in my journal:

God is good and His deeds are good. His hands have fashioned everything in my life. It is good that He has afflicted me with cancer to:

Learn His statutes (teach me His ways)
Place my hope firmly in Him, causing believers to rejoice
Recognize His righteousness in me
Confirm His faithfulness to me
Reveal His mercy to me
Invoke in me a vibrant delight in His word
Use my life to keep His testimonies

Everything in creation has been established by God and is being sustained by God. All things are subject to God’s purpose and will. “All things are God’s servants.”

The benefit and delight I received from these verses is profound:

My cancer is God’s servant in my life. He is using it in ways He has revealed to me in these verses and in many more I have yet to understand. I can rest knowing that my cancer is under the control of God who is good and does good.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book  If God Is Good , as well as the devotional  90 Days of God’s Goodness  and book  The Goodness of God . Also, the booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt? deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Christ Has Infinitely More Than the World Could Ever Offer

Note from Randy: I hope you enjoy these beautiful reflections on Christ from Abigail Dodds, the author of (A)Typical Woman: Free, Whole, and Called in Christ and a regular contributor to Desiring God.

There is more happiness in a life of exile with Christ and His saints than in all the belonging and cliques and tribes the world wants you to join.

There is more hope in one thimble full of the promises of God still to be fulfilled than in the oceans of assurance from this world that it can achieve progress and utopia apart from Him.

There is more light shining as through a glass dimly, radiating from the face of the Son than all the flashes from human luminaries that, in the end, leave us blind.

There is more truth in one sentence from the mouth of the Lord than all the claims and systems and ideologies and philosophies this world could record in one million best sellers.

There is more love in one drop of blood shed by Christ for His people than in all the affections of natural people for their own or their idols in the whole universe.

There is more power in the fingertips of God and the Gospel He has given us than all the power any government or man-made institution could ever conjure by their might or cleverness or lust.

There is more real healing in the fringe of Jesus’s garment than there is in all the hospitals and clinics and medicines that He has bestowed on us through common grace.

And there is more peace and terror and calm and thunder at the sound of His voice in His Holy Word than any voice on earth could muster. When He speaks the earth quakes. When He speaks the waves and storm are still. When He speaks, we have one job: listen to Him.

Looking back and forging ahead, do not turn to the right or the left, but fix your eyes on Him. There will always be infinitely more there with Him than this world could ever offer.

For more reflections on Jesus, see Randy Alcorn's books Face to Face with Jesus  and It's All About Jesus .

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash