As is the case with most preachers, I suppose, my ministry has been full of opportunities to sit with, cry with, minister to, and encourage families suffering through the hospitalization of loved ones, frightening diagnoses, and heartbreaking prognoses. And, like every other person on the planet, I have had to deal with the same things in my own family. Sickness and death are a part of life in this world, and we have to deal with it, but sometimes it gets really, really hard to know how. I have to be honest with you…I don’t have a magical incantation that I mutter that takes all the pain and anxiety away. I do, however, have some encouragement that will make the pain and anxiety somewhat easier to bear.
One of the truest statements I ever personally heard was what a nurse said to my family and me when my mother was in the hospital for heart surgery. He said that the next few hours were going to be a lot harder on us than on my mother. Boy, was he ever right! Even though the operating room staff called us every hour or so to give us an update (and every report was good and encouraging) those hours of that surgery were pure agony. We sat around and talked and joked and did everything we could to do what none of us expected to do - take our minds off what was happening in the other room. And we prayed. We prayed as a group out loud, and we prayed individually and silently; and we prayed throughout the whole surgery. I do not hesitate to say that the Lord heard our prayers that day and gave us a favorable answer.
But sometimes it doesn’t happen that way, does it? Sometimes an elderly loved one is stricken down with an illness and even though the family and the church pray continually and fervently, death is the outcome. Sometimes it’s not an elderly loved one, but one stricken down “in the prime of life” by an accident or an illness and again, though heaven be flooded with prayers, a life is ended. What then? Some react angrily, blaming God and giving up on the notion of prayer. What do you do when you pray and pray and the answer comes back, “No!”? You keep praying, that’s what!
When someone you love is on his or her deathbed, you pray “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). When the doctor comes in with the test results and says someone you love has a few more months to live, you pray without ceasing. When that terrible phone call comes in the middle of the night and one of your children has been in an accident, you pray without ceasing. And when the last enemy we will face in this life (death) wins a battle and a loved one dies, you pray even more because you need it even more.
The apostle Paul said that death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26) and I would never disagree with someone inspired by the Holy Spirit, but death is not the only enemy at work in situations like these. Our true enemy is Satan and when tragedy strikes or threatens, he’s at work trying his best to convince you that God will not take care of you. And many, many people fall into the trap of thinking he’s right. They blame God. They give up on prayer because “it doesn’t work, or Mom would not have died!” And they fail the test, and they lose the battle.
When you find yourself suffering through what every family of man has suffered and will continue to suffer until the Lord returns, take the necessary steps to give yourself the best chance of enduring with a sound faith. Pray…pray without ceasing!! Pray, believing that you will receive what you ask (Mark 11:24). Pray in faith without doubting (James 1:6). And tell your concerns and fears to your brothers and sisters in Christ and get them praying, too. Know the truth and the power of James 5:16: “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” It has always made sense to me that if that verse is true, imagine what can be accomplished by a whole room full (or church full) of righteous people praying! And when those times come (and they will come), times when all the prayers that are offered cannot stop what is appointed for every person, pray all the more that God will help you through the death of a love one. My word of encouragement to you this week is that through the most difficult times, do not give up on God because He has not given up on you. He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates