Sick Nigh Unto Death
I pulled out the KJV for today’s title. This one is less a medical update and more an emotional/spiritual one. These are so much harder to write, but just as necessary to share because cancer journeys affect your whole life, not just the physical part. Cancer changes you thoroughly and permanently. Once cancer touches your life, you are never the same. The change is always traumatic, yet at the same time, it’s transformative. It’s our prayer that we come out on the other side of this journey changed in positive ways that impact the world around us for good.
Mike is Stable, Don’t Get Worried by the Title
We’re still just resting while we wait for treatment number two of cycle two. He’s not currently “nigh unto death” as the title states. That quote is taken from the King James Version of the Bible in Philippians 2:27. I don’t normally read the KJV—I wasn’t even reading it today when I came across this verse—but the KJV wording has stuck with me since childhood. I just didn’t know it came from this particular story.
It’s a fascinating couple of verses tucked into Philippians Chapter 2; just a small reference to Paul’s friend and fellow worker in the gospel named Epaphroditus.
What’s Wrong With Epaphroditus?
The text doesn’t really say exactly what happened to Epaphroditus to make him ill to the point of nearly dying; it just lets us in on the fact that at some point he was critically ill. The Philippian church had heard of his sickness and they were worried about his health. Paul confirms the rumors that he had been gravely ill, but encourages the church at Philippi by sending Epaphroditus to them. Paul also mentions that Epaphroditus “almost died for the work of Christ” and that he “risked his life to make up for the help [the Philippians] could not give [him].” I haven’t looked into any commentaries to see what historical sources say his illness might’ve been because that’s not exactly the part of the passage that God used to minister to me today. That’s the part I want to share with you.
Not On Him Only, But Also On Me
Here’s the verse that struck me as I was reading today . . .
“Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.”
Paul recognized that God sparing Epaphroditus was also for him to be encouraged and to prevent Paul from experiencing even more grief than he already had. Do you see how kind and personal that is? The God of the universe loved Paul so much that he saved his critically ill friend and fellow ministry partner from the very brink of death!
This verse encouraged me today! God is always working in multiple lives and multiple circumstances at once. Things that we think are the end of a story turn out to be just the beginning, or maybe a semi-colon, which is a literary new beginning.
I have no idea how Mike’s cancer journey will end. I don’t know the future. But I know God. What if he’s using Mike’s cancer to encourage me? I’ve never thought of it this way before and I could be completely wrong. But today, that’s the morsel of hope I’ve received from my time spent with the Lord in Scripture and prayer. And these days, I’ll take every tiny crumb of hope I can sweep up. Maybe it gives you hope, too.
The book of Philippians is often called the “Joy Book” of the New Testament. Do you need some joy today? Take 10 minutes and read it. It’s short, but it packs a good punch.
