Four days ago my dad was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. I'd never heard of CLL, but I knew what leukemia meant . . . it meant cancer. And cancer is scary especially when it attacks someone you love.
The oncologist told my dad not to google CLL because there is a lot of disturbing information out there on the Internet. My mom sent along the link that the doctor had recommended. I instantly went to the website to find out what I could . . . and it might as well have been written in a foreign language because I didn't understand anything!
Now, why did the oncologist suggest that we not begin researching this? Isn't it important to be informed?
As a mother of a disabled child, I've been forced to learn that some things are completely beyond my ability to control. We live in a time where there is a wealth of information available to us at our fingertips. But information is not always helpful. Information alone doesn't heal you. Even understanding the information doesn't give you power to change something you do not have the power to change.
The Apostle Paul was shown visions of our day. In a letter to Timothy he wrote that our society would be "ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7). That accurately describes our times. As a whole we seem to be a bunch of arrogant know-it-alls that remain surprisingly ignorant to the things that really matter. We're more concerned with fact than with truth.
And what is truth? The truth is that we are all children of God. He loves us. He loves each of us. He wants us to be good to each other. He has the power to comfort and to heal. Sometimes those who seek physical healing from him continue to live with their disease or disability and some die. But healing of the heart and wounded soul is ALWAYS granted to those who seek it.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). I don't know all things but I know God loves me.
After receiving the news of my father's health, I called him up and cried. Dad told me not to be sad. "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (Ps. 146:5). And although we don't know what the future holds, I know that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
That is my trust.