A Case of Reversed Punctuation

"Exposing our misguided expectations is not pessimistic. On the contrary, 

it is a first step in the direction of real, biblical optimism. False hopes add up to so 

much spiritual debris that gets in the way of our seeing what 

God has truly promised. The debris has got to go."

~Paul Wolfe

****

My sister's husband is dying of cancer. As in, hospice is now their friend. And as they all ponder Pete's stepping into eternity, the question that frequently comes up from friends and family is, "But you haven't given up hope, have you?"

Of course, when we know Jesus, we know our hope is in Him, not in temporary things, including our time here. But, what people often want to know when they ask this question is, "You haven't accepted this dying stuff, have you? I mean, God can still do a miracle." We want to tie our longevity to whether or not we believed hard enough, had enough positive thoughts, or drank enough green smoothies.

So, my sister and I discussed this tension--the tension between knowing God can heal while seeing the ugliness of a body wasting away right before our eyes or bad lab reports that shout, "The winner is: Cancer." The tension between knowing nothing is impossible with God, while affirming the truth that we are all dying-- sin's curse is real.

And the truth is that we often doubt God's promises while we declare assuredly things we have no assurance of. Paul Wolfe, in his most wonderful book, My God is True, Lessons Learned Along Cancer's Dark Road, calls this tendency "spiritual punctuation reversal."

"We put exclamation marks after the uncertain things because we have managed to convince ourselves that they will certainly turn out in our favour. Even we who repudiate the sort of health-and-wealth prosperity nonsense peddled by some popular preachers may find that those lies have found a lodging in our own hearts. Even if we would never come out and say it, deep down we may be thinking, 'Surely my loving heavenly Father would never make me suffer disappointment and disaster.' This amounts to putting promises in God's mouth.

Conversely, we put question marks after the promises of the gospel because we struggle to believe that something so wonderful--and so unseen--can really be true. Or if it is true, can it really be worth all this? The ancient lie began with 'Has God really said,' and deep down we are prone to treat even his most precious promises that way."

Is there a place for optimism in the face of devastating life circumstances? Of course! We're all living out stories that include amazing providences. But optimism, Wolfe reminds us, is not the same as gospel certainty, and our hearts must guard against confusing the two.

Because the result of mixing up our questions and our exclamations is a life, Wolfe explains, that looks like this:

"Our picnic will certainly be a smashing success!"
"I will definitely get that job I interviewed for!"
"But will God really abide with me in everything I go through, including death?"
"Is heaven a real place, and am I truly destined to arrive there in the end?"

It's living like this, reversing the certain and uncertain, that truly drains our hope. And this is the temptation of all of us, whether we're facing cancer or not. There are endless questions in our lives to which we must answer, "God only knows." But, praise God, there are so many questions that demand the answer, "God said..."

With love,
Trisha


***I cannot recommend Wolfe's book enough. It is a beautiful declaration of the truth of God's sovereignty, and all will benefit from it, cancer or not. Also, my sister covets your prayers and gave me permission to share her story here. Prayers for family unity. For peace and calm in this midst of this very hard providence. For God's spiritual and financial provision. That Christ would be their treasure and their hope would be firmly planted on His promises. Thank you.