Topics: Healing; Perseverance; Preaching; Protection; Sorrow; Strength; Tears
References: 1 Corinthians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Galatians 6:9
John Claypool, pastor of the Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, had a little daughter with leukemia. When she went into remission, everybody thought God had healed her. On an Easter Sunday morning she had a recurrence. In his book Tracks of a Fellow Struggler, Claypool says his daughter asked, “Daddy, did you talk to God about my leukemia?”
He said, “Yes, we’ve been praying for you.”
She asked, “Did you ask him how long the leukemia would last? What did God say?”
What do you say to your daughter when you can’t help her and the heavens are silent? A few hours later, the little girl died. The following Sunday, John Claypool got up to preach. His text was Isaiah 40:31: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
“There are three stages of life,” Claypool said. “Sometimes we mount up with wings as an eagle and fly; we’re on top of the world. Sometimes we run, and we don’t grow weary; we just go through the routine. Sometimes the best we can do is to walk and not faint. That’s where I am right now. I need your prayers.”
At the moment that Claypool was at his lowest, he preached probably his most influential sermon. Like Paul, he could say, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
—R. L. Russell, “Triumphing over Trials,” Preaching Today Audio, no. 119