Greg Hewlett passed away on January 17th after nearly eight years of battling colon cancer. While we grieve his loss, we are comforted to know that he is with his Lord.
If you would like to leave your thoughts on Greg, please see this thread.
If you would like to make a charitable donation in Greg's honor, please see this thread.
The Struggle Has Ended
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Fallen Snow
We awoke yesterday to a pleasant surprise. I extend apologies to my friends of the Northeast, where I hear snow and ice has been an unrelenting challenge this season. Down here, we delight in it and take our mandatory out-the-window photos, as if to prove to ourselves it wasn't a dream. After all, as was the case yesterday, it is usually mostly gone by the end of the day.We cancer patients are understandably drawn to read Job. Here are some words from Job 37 that yesterday brought to mind...
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. - Job 37:5-7
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4 comments:
Enjoy the snow! We have a friend at our church Mary McColm that has cancer in her spinal column. They have found some cancer cells in the fluid. She is coming to the same hospital you were at in Houston MDA (sp?) for a second opinon. I told her husband at church today that you really liked the hospital. I'll let you know when they go. Her son is a PCA pastor Houston.
For all your enthusiasm...Dulci is looking rather tentative...She may not be in quite as much awe.
Many of my friends here in Moscow have asked how you are doing. It's been great to tell them what the Lord has been doing in your lives. We continue to remember you in prayer. Enjoy the snow while you can! I expect to have snow around for another couple of months.
I am more and more convinced that there are many Jobs in this world, hundreds, thousands, if not tens of thousands of Job and more, the only difference is that the story of their prolonged afflictions were never recorded in the written Bible, but only in heaven. They might not have been restored materially on earth; but their heroic faith are recorded in heaven, remembered by God forever while Satan shakes in fear.
For many years, I had pondered on how God could let Job went through all these. Could God feel how we mortal feel? Could the eventual physical restoration ever made up for what has been lost forever?
Then it dawned on me that "God was a silent sufferer. He suffered long to watch His beloved servant devastated by such huge losses. God had to bear in silence the misunderstanding and misgivings towards Him by the one whom He loves . He knew Job could not understand, and because of this unexplained myth, He know job would be plunged into the agony and ravaged by emotional and spiritaul torment, from both within and without. It must have broken God's heart to see Job reached the conclusion that the Almighty is against Him, where can he turn for help? Where can he find a mediator to argue with God? Now it is my understanding that God suffered more than Job did. For God was bound by the execution of His own Will. God needed Satan to see his own vile in contrast to Job's righteousness. He had to stay quiet, and witness every moment the physical and mental torment of His beloved.
Satan is done accusing. He is still spilting out lies and demanding the show of faith in saints of every generation and every nation. And may be that is why there are so many Jobs throughout the ages. But God though silent until the end, He listened in closely and had watched every step with unceasing intensity.
I used to protest in secret when of God replied in an overbearing fashion to Job. Then I was glad that God did not apologize. For He had nothing to apologize. It was not about Job, it was all about God Himself. because God had suffered all along with Job, God had to endure equal if not more pain than Job. So on the grounds of suffering, they both suffered. Infact, it was so assuring to realize that God is who He is, mighty and awesome. Job yearned for a court date with God, and He got it. When God laid out His cases in question, Job could not answer a Word, even with so much undeserved sorrow. Yet, though there did not seem to be any words of comfort from God. Finally hearing from God must have been the greatest comfort. It had for sure marked the end of his mourning period.
My personal testimony: Though I know there is a season for everthing. yet often I become so numbed by affliction that I tend to stay in a perpetual state of despair and pessimism. I could not move into the other seasons even when the season have changed. Until I longed for God to speak to me as He did to Job. I pray Lord, let me know please and declare to me freedom from my state of wow. And He in His marvelous ways, will declare in my heart, the beginning of a new season. Greg, it is my prayer for You that God will quickly declare to you a healthy and joyous new season.
Henry
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