CLEVELAND, Tenn. (BP) — “Don’t feel sorry for me,” Ernest Easley writes in a new book.

A feeding tube is how he gets nourishment. He struggles to speak.

Diagnosed with malignant throat cancer in 1998, severe side effects from 44 radiation treatments still afflict the longtime pastor.

Even so: “I feel sorry for you if you haven’t learned the peace that comes from resting in God’s sovereignty,” Easley writes in “Resting in God’s Sovereignty: A 30-day Devotional on God’s Plan for His People.”

“It’s better not to be able to swallow or speak — and be in God’s will,” Easley reiterated in interviews via email, “than to be able to swallow and speak — and be out of his will.”

Confusion over God’s sovereignty from an absence of sound biblical theology stirred Easley “to help people better understand what it is and what it’s not, and what his sovereignty means for them in their circumstances.”

This confusion “increases the risk of people misunderstanding or misinterpreting the activity, or lack of activity, of God in their lives,” Easley said. “A clear biblical understanding of God’s sovereignty sheds light on life’s circumstances, giving us a heavenly perspective and the strength to endure life’s challenges.

“The things He allows to come our way are His ways of fulfilling His purposes and helping conform us into the image of His Son,” Easley noted.

Burns, sores, ulcers — and prayer

A swollen lymph node in Easley’s neck in 1998 was the first indication that something was wrong. He went to his doctor and was prescribed a week of antibiotics, but the lymph node only increased in size. Next, at an ear, nose and throat specialist’s office, several needle biopsies were taken. Three days later, the ENT told Easley a fast-growing cancer was somewhere in his body.

Easley went into shock and passed out for a few moments in the office. Soon he was a patient at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he underwent 44 radiation treatments over the course of six weeks, five days a week.

Second-degree burns and open sores on the outside of his neck were bandaged nightly. Ulcers, meanwhile, covered the inside of his mouth and throat, and he battled an oral bacterial infection.

“The pain was so excruciating, the doctors put me on Loratab which helped take the edge off,” he said. “In the long term, it took me nearly two years to get off Loratab, so I’m very sympathetic to people who get addicted to pain medication.”

Vomiting started to occur several times a day. Easley lost nearly 50 pounds, so a feeding tube was surgically implanted, providing nourishment for several weeks after his three-month stay at MD Anderson.

“I wasn’t suicidal, but I recall thinking, ‘Dying has to be better than this.’”

Often, however, he turned to a small plaque his mother had sent him inscribed with the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

“I would quote it out loud,” Easley recounted, “and I found great comfort from it.”

And, somehow, he thanked God for his salvation in Jesus, his family, the radiation treatments, and for God’s faithfulness, goodness and mercy.

“Knowing you are sovereign,” he also prayed, “and that nothing can get to me without first coming through you, thank you for this cancer. Use it for your glory and my good.”

Easley’s current feeding tube became necessary in March 2023 due to the long-term radiation damage. The muscles and a nerve for swallowing had died, following the earlier loss of his saliva glands and thyroid. A vocal cord implant was nullified around 2010 by a damaged nerve in his tongue.

Now in his 45th year of ministry, Easley is the teaching pastor for evangelism at First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tenn., where his son Jordan is senior pastor. He was pastor of the Atlanta-area Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta from 2002-2015; as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee, he served as chairman from 2014-2015. He subsequently was professor of evangelism at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., from 2015-2018.

‘Liberate your life’

New birth, Easley writes in “Resting in God’s Sovereignty,” is the starting point that will “liberate your life.”

A prayer can be phrased in various ways, such as: “I acknowledge and welcome your sovereign rule over my life. … Today, I choose to obey and follow you for the rest of my life. Come into my life and forgive me of my sins, as I turn from my sin and follow you as my Lord and Savior.”

God’s sovereignty is not “rigid, like a huge iron vise holding everything in a tight grip,” Easley writes in the book, released this year by the B&H Publishing Group of Lifeway Christian Resources.

The key to getting more of God, he adds, “is for God to get more of you. The more God gets of you, the more you get of God.”

Followers of Christ must be teachable in order to grasp the depth of God’s sovereignty, Easley notes, centering each chapter of his devotional book on a biblical figure such as David, Daniel, Hannah, Paul, Peter and Mary.

“Like us, they all had their own spiritual ups and downs, victories and failures, highs and lows. There were days that resting in God’s sovereignty was challenging, seemingly impossible, and other days when it was a no-brainer and simple.”

Easley singles out three ways that God nurtures rest in His sovereignty:

Time — “As with math, you don’t learn it overnight.”

Troubles — “Since you’re not going to avoid troubles, you might as well decide not to waste them but rather to invest them.”

Trust — “(T)rusting God to use your troubles to help conform you into the image of his Son and to fulfill his purposes.”

“Perhaps you have experienced great sorrow and grief in your life. Have you ever considered your grief as a gift from God? If it drives you to God, it’s a gift,” Easley writes. “Some of the greatest periods of prayer throughout my life have been the result of unmet needs. … I’ve learned over the years that I never get any answers to my whys, but I get many answers to my whats.”

People may wonder whether the Bible teaches divine sovereignty or human freedom, Easley writes.

“The answer is yes. A careful reading of the Bible reveals that the writers of Scripture did not feel those two truths were contradictory, for they affirm them side by side without any attempt to explain them. They believed God was in control and that people must decide. Both truths are affirmed.”

And Easley remains intent to help people decide for Jesus.

“The struggle to speak has brought greater challenges for doing personal evangelism but has not stopped me,” said Easley, who co-authored a 2020 B&H book, “Resuscitating Evangelism,” with his son Jordan. “Though my opportunities have been reduced, my heart for evangelism remains strong.”

Easley told of a recent encounter with a young man sitting on a bench in front of the church. “I sat down beside him and listened to his story. As I listened, I asked God to help me talk clearly enough for him to understand me. After a 30-minute conversation, Matthew prayed, repented of his sins and invited Jesus into his life.

“I walked away thinking, ‘Yes! Even with my struggle to speak, God can still use my efforts in bringing people to Jesus.’”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Art Toalston is a writer based in Nashville and a former editor of Baptist Press.)