John Piper wrote this article on the eve of his surgery for prostate cancer this week. Everyone responds to suffering differently, and I thought this was an interesting perspective given his circumstances… He certainly has a very high view of God’s sovereignty, which is no surprise if you’re familiar with his writing. This article powerfully shows that he lives what we teaches, and although some will not agree with him theologically, one cannot argue with the faith he holds to God’s sovereign purposes in everything - even cancer. The surgery was successful and John is recovering well from what I’ve read. Let’s pray for his complete healing and recovery in the coming days and weeks.
Lord, I pray that I would have this spirit of faith and trust in Your divine purposes no matter what agent of suffering comes my way. May I cherish Christ to such a degree that, no matter the pain, disillusionment or suffering, I would place implicit trust in Your eternal purposes - to build Your kingdom, edify Your Church, and glorify Your great name.
(HT: Between Two Worlds)
I have a bit of a differing perspective on sickness. I do not believe that God ever intended or “planned” for us to have disease–the fall of man executed that path. Could the disease be designed by the devil?
Check out a discussion of this from a fellow blogger Rhett Smith at http://www.rhettsmith.com/blog/archives/2006/02/post_2.html
I didn’t realize that Piper had cancer. Thanks for the heads up.
Rich,
I read Rhett’s response and I’ll have to agree to disagree. (and his tone seems pretty caustic) Having read much of Piper’s writings over the years and listened to many messages, it is clear that he holds a very high view of God’s sovereignty - even over suffering, pain and evil. I, too, hold his view of God’s sovereignty…but that’s another discussion.
I will not pretend to empathize with someone who goes through suffering - especially cancer. But I do agree with Piper that we can find God’s purposes - the foremost of which is God’s glory - in everything.
My take on Piper’s comments is simply that he is encouraging us to see in everything, yes even cancer, the opportunity for God’s purposes (always higher than ours) to bring Him glory. I believe Piper was simply encouraging those who have cancer to have that perspective, and not miss the opportunity to see God glorify Himself even through a terrible, frightening, painful circumstance.
Yes - i agree with you that the fall brought sickness, sin, pain and suffering. And God, in His sovereignty, is able to use even the effects of the fall to glorify Himself. I go to Gen. 50:20 in cases like this.
This is a good dialogue. Any thoughts?
I carefully chose “disease” as my point of disagreement–not any other point, but how Calvanistic one is will color how these things are viewed. Without Christ we are condemnned already, but in Him we have the right to ask for healing, fight our sickness and turn His heart to answer our prayers. I see God’s sovereignty not limited by us having such a partnership with God. Divine healing is a privelege that God may grant us…or not.
There are no easy answers to suffering and I think we can get “tweaked” by trying to be so tidy about it. Katrina? Was that God’s designed judgement against sinful Mardi Gras or just the cycle of storms that hit people who had a choice as to live in harms way? If we all got what we deserved, we would be less than ashes at this point. Just a thought. Us believers in Christ really do have differing perspectives. I have seen disease take people close to me. I have also seen God heal people. I respect John Piper greatly, but I do challenge this one point to say that it these things are a lot more mysterious.
This is not saying God then can redeem what was evil or use it for His purpose. It means that we just can’t universally proclaim what that purpose is, if we are honest.
I really respect your thoughts. I believe, with you, that it is all mysterious and definitely not tidy. And, I will never try to minimize what you’ve gone through as you’ve watched those close to you go through disease. I have too. My uncle died a couple years ago at age 47 of liver cancer after having undergone successful heart transplant surgery due to previous cancer. And in the process, came to faith in Christ and influenced hundreds of others before passing away. it was excruciatingly painful to see him suffer as he did so for many years - and yet, mysteriously, through his suffering many others drew from his faith to find their own.
That doesn’t prove Piper’s theology of course. Just an example of God’s mysterious grace seen in the face of disease.
Katrina? I would NEVER say it was God’s judgment on sinful New Orleans. But, I also don’t believe God was sitting on the edge of His seat in heaven waiting to see which way the storm would turn.
On the subject of evil, sin, pain, disease, etc… Check something out I recently came across but had never paid attention to until now. Revelation 13:8. This refers to names being written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain - written BEFORE the foundation of the world. If taken literally, which I do, it means: God’s plan to slay the Lamb was in existence before the creation of the world - before man was created - before man sinned - before there was actually any need for grace, mercy or forgiveness. And, why would there need to be a plan to slay the Lamb? Because part of God’s plan to glorify Himself was to allow sin, pain and suffering into the world in order to sacrifice His Son, the Lamb, to give His people the chance for eternal life.
I know this sounds like God ordained the existence of evil for His glory. Because… I believe He did. And that’s another part of the mystery I don’t understand. But, in order to believe that He didn’t, we can’t read Revelation 13:8 literally. Either He had the plan for the slaying of the Lamb before the creation of the world or He didn’t. If He did, the existence of sin and evil was also part of the plan - hence the need for a Lamb.
I don’t think it is wrong to universally proclaim that the purpose of everything is God’s glory - because I think scripture makes that proclamation in many ways and in many places.
I’m enjoying our interaction on this, Rich. I submit these thoughts in humility because I definitely don’t have it all wrapped and neatly packaged. I, like you, am always seeking to learn and grow. I know there are books hundreds of pages long dedicated to this subject, so we’re only scratching the proverbial surface.
Cool. This is heavy for a Sunday! And, of course I wish I was as smart as you, Brian.
I totally agree about the ultimate and universal purpose of God’s glory. My point is that in the personal nature of God’s interaction with us that things really sometimes don’t make sense–at least to us–and will never until we can get the answer face to face with God. A bad thing is a bad thing and it is appropriate to struggle with that and pray for better things–having access as God’s children. There is no rejoicing in that bad thing except in results that God can bring through the redemption we can find. Does God cause bad things to happen so He can prove Himself? Do we sin more so grace might increase? I think that it was entirely possible that Adam and Eve could have made the right choice….and Lucifer, for that matter. In that realm, even though God knew the path about evil comming into the world, His plan was a relationship. God could have billions upon billions of options to get to where His will wants things to be as to allow us to have free will.
Anyway, I think we are a lot closer if I was smart enough to use the correct lingo. The issue really is just in how much do we really have choice in asking for divine healing and any blessing? As God’s child, it says to boldly come. The orthopraxy here is to believe that disease is not really what God wants for me, but until I get to heaven I may have to deal with it or other evils. And, life is not fair, either. But, God is.
Peace, bro!