Do You know the answer to this question?

By David Wentz

Someone I used to know just got news that a close loved one received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. This person has a strong faith and has been praying for healing and a good report, but it did not come. They asked me to help them understand the eternal problem of pain and early death. They really didn’t want intellectual theological speculations. Here is my answer. Maybe it will help you, or someone you know:

I’m so sorry.

If there was a simple clear answer everyone would know it. Faith is saying, “I don’t understand it, but I trust God anyway.”

I don’t know exactly how it all works and fits together. Here’s what I do know:

* God is love

* God loves each one of us

* In the light of the billions of years of eternity, the difference between the shortest life on this earth and the longest is less than the blink of an eye.

* Everyone is going to die. What counts is our faith, worked out in how we live and how we face death.

* The apostle Paul wrote, “To me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.” (Philippians 1:21–23)

* He also wrote, “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” (Romans 8:18)

* All the rest of it, the questions about why God heals some and not others, why God allows tragedies to affect some and not others, why some are born in one place and others are born to different circumstances, all that we have to leave to faith that God knows what is best for each of us, God is able to do what is best for each of us, and God does what is best because he loves each of us.

These are my thoughts as I read your message early in the morning and prayed for you. I hope they help.

Thirty-eight years as a pastor honed David’s passion for helping people connect with God and make a difference. Add a varied church background, a first career in engineering, and graduate degrees from three seminaries (mainstream, Wesleyan-evangelical and charismatic), and you can see why he expresses God’s truth in ways everyone can appreciate.

David earned a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia; two Masters of Divinity, from Melodyland School of Theology and Wesley Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Leadership from Asbury Theological Seminary. He enjoys the outdoors, writing worship songs with his guitar, and playing sax and flute in jazz and blues jams. His heroes are John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

David married his college sweetheart, Paula, in 1974. Their five children are actively serving God in the US and around the world. Is author of Pastoring: The Nuts And Bolts. You can connect with David on his, twitter, Facebook, and Doing Christianity Nonprofit.

Feature Image by James Chan from Pixabay