God and My Husband's Cancer

Before my husband died of cancer, one of my daughters asked me, "Why would God allow someone like Dad to get something like this?" I could not give her the reason why, and I fully accept that I may never be able to give her an answer--at least in this life. God has not appointed me to his privy counsel, so I do not have access to the answers to questions like that .

I liked the way she asked her question, though, because in it she acknowledged some important things about God: that he is omniscient--or more specifically, that He foresees all thing that will happen; that He is omnipotent--that there are no forces that He is unable to stop if he so chooses; that He is always interested in the affairs of individual human beings; that He is purposeful in what He does; and that He is good--corrupting influences like disease always come into our lives by way of God's permission, not His direct action. So I won't try to find an answer to her question by taking away from any of these truths about the nature of God as affirmed by her question.

Why did God allow my husband to suffer and then die of cancer? I cannot answer that question, but I do know that God knew the cancer would come, had the ability to stop it at any point along the way, cared about what was happening to him and to us, and had a purpose for not intervening to stop the progression of the illness. I also know His reason for not intervening was a good one, and that He was working His own good purpose in our lives, in my husband's life, and in human history.