Brothers and Sisters, what would your reaction be if those words, “You’ve got cancer, and it’s a big one,” were the Doctor’s diagnosis to you? Would it be disbelief? — fear? Or would it be hope and faith? — faith in the power of God and in the Doctor’s skill.
All those reactions were in the face of my Sister-Mom as we sat together in the small Doctor’s office listening to the outcome of her rather quick week-long extensive physical tests . . . The Doctor’s report was not surprising, it was not good! As our hands gripped each other Mom asked him, “What can you do?” Then, immediately, with an almost ‘austere’ compassion, the Doctor told of the marvelous benefits of radiation treatments before the scheduling of surgery to remove the cancer.
Hope springs eternal! Before we arose from our chairs Mom and I were telling the Doctor of our resounding faith in the ‘Greater Physician’ even “the LORD (Yahweh Rapheka) that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:6). The strength we shared at that moment was not ours but came from the Lord—for His promise is that He is a very present help in trouble, and when you “cast thy burden upon the LORD, he shall sustain thee.” (Psa. 55:22).
Without question, each one of us surely has had times when we thanked God for his abiding strength that cometh at times when news of dread of any kind is first felt . . . but dearly beloved, we are all weak mortal clay. The time soon follows when you feel ‘the bottom has struck’ — albeit momentarily. We were on our journey home when Mom’s eyes started fogging with the mist of tears. “It is awful,” she said, “to know there is something growing inside that can kill you!” It was then that we started thinking of the real cancer of sin—that ‘sin-killing cancer’ that is in everyone of us.
Just like the physical cancer, an unrepentant sin can become a malignant force growing in the heart of man. Doth not the prophet Jeremiah warn that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (sick) : who can know it?” The Scriptures further warn that sin is death; but we need never despair as those without hope! Our God has given His believing children a lifeline—a radiation of instant love and light that will completely remove the big cancer of sin, as well as every affected sin-causing cell, if we will early seek forgiveness of transgressions and accept the atoning blood of Christ Jesus to thoroughly cleanse our unrighteousness.
Let us quietly listen now to the echo of the psalmist David’s words of Divine inspiration: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry,” (Psa. 34:15). With a trusting heart each believing child of God has to know that He heareth us, from the least to the greatest. May we, all of us, sways continue in abiding faith in the fullness of God’s power “till he comes whose right it is.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One