“This day is sacred to
our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Nehemiah 8:10
Many cancer patients struggle with coming to terms with
their mortality. We used to feel invincible; we never imagined that death was knocking
at our door. Ignoring death was easy in the B.C. (before cancer) years but nearly
impossible in the A.D. (after diagnosis) days. There are just too many
reminders: doctor appointments, blood work, treatments, and especially friends
and other acquaintances who die from the disease. Now we have to actually face
this very real enemy called Death, this robber of our days. We have to acknowledge
death and decide what to do with it.
When people ask me for advice on dealing with the fear of
death, five simple but powerful words come to mind: KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS. Counselors
will provide many helpful and proactive strategies like organizing your photos,
reviewing your will, journaling, and creating a “bucket list” of all the things
you’d like to do before you die. Keeping busy and productive certainly helps me
not to think about death, but it does nothing to take away the fear of death.
When fear strikes during the quiet times, the “bad-news-from-the-doctor” times,
or the times I check the local obituaries and see whom cancer has stolen today,
the only remedy is to keep my eyes on Jesus.
Fear that drives us to God is not a faithless fear, but a
faith-filled fear. Christians should not be ashamed to feel afraid; even Jesus,
the most perfect example of humanity, was afraid before going to the cross. And
Jesus, this most perfect example, showed us what to do with our fear when he
spent hours in prayer before his Father in the garden of Gethsemane. When I can’t
find the words that I need to pray, I read a Psalm, such as Psalm 61, which
Charles Spurgeon calls “a pearl…little, but precious. To many a mourner it has
furnished utterance when the mind could not have devised a speech for itself.”
Spurgeon also writes: “It is hard to pray when the very heart is drowning, yet
gracious men plead best at such times. Tribulation brings us to God, and brings
God to us. Faith’s greatest triumphs are achieved in her heaviest trials.”
When we pray, we can ask Jesus to redeem all the time we
have left on earth. We must remain active in service for Him, never passive.
Many of us no longer have the strength for the tasks we used to do, but we can
still pray fervently. Job was the most stricken human being in the Bible; his
story is incredibly humbling, because we will never suffer the way he did. Yet
he did not turn away from God—Job cried out to God in deep despair, and God met
Job’s deepest need. Yet when did God restore Job? “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous
again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10) That verse really
struck me in the early days of my diagnosis, when the disease was rampant and I
felt as though death was closing in. I could do nothing while lying in that
hospital bed BUT pray. But the Lord soon showed me that my prayers were not all
to be for myself. I realized that He wanted me to pray for others: for my
husband, my children, my friends, my extended family, those cancer patients
receiving chemotherapy next to me, and even despairing strangers whose names I knew
from cancer forums and whom I would never meet. The Lord gave me a mission and
a legacy.
In his book Praying
Circles around the Lives of Your Children, Mark Batterson agrees that our
prayers are our greatest legacy. Our prayers will continue to be answered long
after we have left this earth, just as we are experiencing the blessings from
prayers that grandparents and ancestors prayed for us. Batterson writes: “I believe that every blessing, every
breakthrough, every miracle in your life traces back to the prayers that were
prayed by you or for you. One of the greatest moments in eternity will be the
day God peels back the space-time curtain and unveils His sovereignty by
connecting the divine dots between our prayers and His answers. That infinite
web of prayer crisscrosses every nation, every generation. And when God finally
reveals His strange and mysterious ways, it will drop us to our knees in
worship. We will thank Him for the prayers he did answer. We’ll also thank Him for the prayers He didn’t answer because we’ll finally
understand why. And we’ll thank Him for the answered prayers we weren’t even
aware of.”
What can we do when fear strikes our hearts? Pray. Throw
ourselves at His feet and pray. Pray the Psalms. Pray for others. As we pray,
we will realize that we no longer pray because of our fear. Fear drives us to
prayer, but as we pray our hearts begin to change. Fear is replaced by joy and
love for the One who created us and is present with us. We pray out of devotion
“to God who adds days to our days”, with gratitude and thanksgiving for each
day that we are here to do His work and to participate in the greatest legacy
He has planned for us—to pray for others.
Thank You Lord, for
the gift of prayer. Thank You that You are always present to hear us, to
comfort us, and to bless us with Your mercy and grace. Help us to focus our prayers,
not just on our own needs, but on the needs of others. Help us to pray
according to Your Spirit, and when we cannot find the words, comfort us with
Your promise to intercede for us. We praise You, the One from whom ALL
blessings flow!
Psalm 61
Hear my cry, O God; listen
to my prayer.
From the ends of the
earth I call to you,
I call as my heart
grows faint;
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I.
For you have been my
refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
I long to dwell in
your tent forever
And take refuge in the
shelter of your wings.
For you have heard my
vows, O God;
You have given me the
heritage of those who fear your name.
*Increase the days of
the king’s life,
His years for many
generations.
May he be enthroned in
God’s presence forever;
Appoint your love and
faithfulness to protect him.
Then will I ever sing
praise to your name
And fulfill my vows
day after day.
*David is praying this psalm
for himself; you may wish to speak in the 1st person to make it a
personal plea for yourself: “Increase the days of MY life, MY years for many
generations. May I be enthroned in God’s presence forever; Appoint your love
and faithfulness to protect ME.”
