Tested Faith

 April 15, 2022

The past three days have suddenly turned our world upside down with the news of our son’s brain tumors. I wasn’t able to post because I have been in Cuba and wasn’t able to get online with my iPad, on which I write my posts. News such as ours has a way of putting things in perspective. Suddenly, things that had seemed important fade into the background, assuming their proper place in the hierarchy of significance.

We are tempted in our prayers to bargain with God, pleading Nathan’s service, his heart for Christ and the Gospel, those who look to him and depend upon him, but Nathan knows better than most that before a holy God, our only plea is the blood of Christ and God’s own promises in his Word. Not having righteousness of our own, we claim that of Christ who on this day more than two millennia ago, offered his in our place, taking our sins upon himself. Theologians have for these two thousand years attempted in vain to understand the Atonement; many theories have been offered, but it remains a mystery how God has worked through Christ on our behalf.

So if we can’t plead with God, citing our own virtues, what plea do we have? Only the promises in the Bible that God is for us in all things. He hasn’t promised an easy road without troubles and setbacks, but he has assured us of his goodness and faithfulness and his own presence in the midst of the trials.

Flying home from Cuba to be with Linda and with Nate, I was reading Martin Luther’s “Table Talk,” notes from dinner conversations recorded by a friend of his. Luther had his share of troubles; excommunicated from the Church, often in danger of his life from those who didn’t share his views. In one of his talks, he said this:

“Without trouble, trials, and vexations, prayer cannot rightly be made. Therefore God says, “Call on me in the time of trouble,” etc. without trouble it is only a cold prattling, and goeth not from the heart; the common saying is “Need teaches to pray.”

Before going to Cuba, I had reflected on forgiveness. People have said to me that certain offenses were too big to forgive; my response has always been, “Forgiveness is for the big stuff; the small things we ought to merely brush aside.” I think the same is true of faith. It isn’t hard to have faith that God will heal when it’s merely a cold, a broken bone, or such. But cancer? In the brain? That’s another matter altogether, and we all easily cite times we’ve prayed for healing in vain, causing us to pray tentatively, if at all.

As Luther said, apart from troubles, prayer is meaningless. But when the walls we face are tall and strong, it’s easy to believe what we see around us rather than what we can’t see. We are like Elisha’s servant, fearful of the enemy surrounding us, unable to see that enemy surrounded by the armies of God (2 Kings 6:17). I confess that I have to keep telling myself of the promises of God, because my mind wanders to all the “what ifs,” imagining scenarios I don’t want to consider. It’s then that Paul’s word to the Corinthian Christians keeps coming back to me, “Take every thought captive to Christ.” They keep wandering, and I keep roping them back back in through prayer.

A dear friend stopped by this evening, sharing her own story of God’s healing her of brain cancer. “They weren’t hopeful, but here I am, twenty years later…ALIVE because of Christ!” So I keep praying, and when my mind wanders to places I don’t want to be, I claim the Scriptures and refocus my attention upon Christ, our Savior and Healer. Keep praying for Nate; we are only beginning this journey, and know not what twists and turns may lie in the road ahead. But we are determined to walk it together with each other and with Christ. If you want to join us in informed prayer, his wife Debbra has put together a Facebook page, “Nate Bailey’s Progress Page.” found at the following link:

 https://www.facebook.com/NateBaileysProgress/?notif_id=1649958553634317¬if_t=page_invite_accept&ref=notif

Thank you in advance for your prayers. Pray believing, trusting God’s promises instead of your feelings. To God be the glory!