Hello ,
Tony Campolo tells a
story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man's healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man's wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer." Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated!
Before he could think much about it she said, "He died." Compolo felt terrible. But she continued, "Don't feel bad. When he came into that church that weekend he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn't take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his
anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence."
The lady continued "However, after you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We've sung. We've laughed. We've read
Scripture. We've prayed. Oh, they've been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing." And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, "He wasn't cured, but he was healed."
Often times we can find ourselves being tempted to think that we know how God needs to answer our prayers.
Let's remember, God is God...and we're not. If we turn our cares over to Him, we are saying in effect, "Lord, you know what you are doing, and I'm trusting that You will do what is best."
Have a great day and God bless!
