The last four and a half years of my wife Nanci’s life taught me not just in theory, but in practice, how God uses suffering for His glory. One morning six months before she died, she said to me in pure excitement, her Bible open in front of her, “I have been reading Psalm 119, and it says in verse 91 that ‘all things are God’s servants.’”
She looked at me with bright eyes, despite her suffering, and asked, “Do you know what that means?”
I said, “Tell me.”
Nanci said, “It means my cancer is His servant. He will use it in my life and the lives of others for His glory.”
The same is true for all of us who love and trust Jesus. The adversities and challenges we face are God’s servants, and He is using them in our lives in sovereign ways, beyond our understanding. I thank God for the greatness of His person, His grace and truth, and the depths of His love for His people!
Here’s the full entry Nanci wrote in her journal after reading Psalm 119:91:
My Cancer Is God’s Servant
Lately I have been immersed in the Psalms. In them the steadfast love of God for His people is expressed during great trouble as well as great blessing. When our hearts begin to grasp the character of God as revealed in His Word, our faith and trust in His ways digs deeper into our souls. The benefits and delights of knowing and obeying God’s Word is the theme of Psalm 119. Here are a few “treasures” found in verses 68-93:
“You are good and do good… it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes… Your hands have made and fashioned me… Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word… I know, O LORD [Yahweh, God’s personal name], that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me… let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight… In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth… you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.”
As is God’s promise, my meditation upon these words brought instruction and great delight to my soul. I jotted down some observations in my journal:
God is good and His deeds are good. His hands have fashioned everything in my life. It is good that He has afflicted me with cancer to:
- Learn His statutes (teach me His ways)
- Place my hope firmly in Him, causing believers to rejoice
- Recognize His righteousness in me
- Confirm His faithfulness to me
- Reveal His mercy to me
- Invoke in me a vibrant delight in His word
- Use my life to keep His testimonies
Everything in creation has been established by God and is being sustained by God. All things are subject to God’s purpose and will. “All things are God’s servants.”
The benefit and delight I received from these verses is profound:
My cancer is God’s servant in my life. He is using it in ways He has revealed to me in these verses and in many more I have yet to understand. I can rest knowing that my cancer is under the control of God who is good and does good.
