Ed. Note: In a land and time far, far
away, where the only people that existed were troglodytes (OK, not
that long ago . . . but you may be that old if you remember the beginning of that
song) I was planning on including this article in the newsletter because of how touching
and inspirational it was to me. These are excerpts from a message entitled, Life is Hard, but God is Good by Joni
Eareckson Tada, Preaching Today Tape 209, as edited and retold by a pastor
friend of mine, Jim Hammond, which was then edited and retold by the Perihelion.
Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, all humans have experienced times when it seems like God is absent. Two of the reasons for this are that (1) by our sin we have removed ourselves from God (Isaiah 59:2) or (2) the pain caused by the fallen state of our world clouds our view of God. Sometimes God seems absent and like Job, we will not understand it this side of heaven.
.
. . Joni had her accident. Suddenly God
didnt seem to be good.
Joni Eareckson
Tada became a quadriplegic
as a
result of a diving accident when she was a teenager. She
tells of a visit she had with a high school friend at a High School reunion. Her friends name was Jackie. They were friends before her accident. They had played on the
Only a couple of
months after that experience Joni had her accident. Suddenly
God didnt seem to be good. God
didnt seem to be close. Suddenly God
seemed to be absent. Joni says she was heaven
bent on finding answers. She wanted to believe
in the goodness of God. She needed reasons for
her paralysis. Over the years, to make sense
of it, she began to formulate a mental checklist of some of the reasons for her paralysis. Here is part of her list:
1. I have
learned that all things fit together into a pattern for my good and Gods glory.
2. Hardships
have forced me to make decisions about God.
3. Suffering
has done a job on my character.
4. Being
paralyzed has made heaven come alive in a way that makes me want to live better on earth
because I know full well more is coming in the next.
5. My
thought life sure has been jerked right side up.
6. Suffering
has made me a lot more sensitive to people who are hurting.
Summarizing, Joni
noted, God is more concerned about conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ than
He is about my comfort zones. God is more
interested in my inward character than my outward circumstances. These are some answers to my questions about
Gods goodness, but these arent the best answer.
For that matter when
God seems absent good answers for these feelings arent enough. The checklist feels dry. No matter how many answers Joni came up with she
knew there were still times when these cognitive answers were not enough! Joni came to know that the best answer is a person.
One night as she lay
in that hospital bed for a check-up, she had been watching a movie, The Birdman of Alcatraz. Watching, she suddenly identified with Burt
Lancaster behind the bars. She was in a
paralysis prison and she was feeling claustrophobic. Lord,
I cant do this. Even all the good you
have in mind, all the things Im learning, dont outweigh the pain.
That was the night Jackie sneaked in to see Joni after hours because she had gotten off work late, past visiting hours. She hid behind the couch in the visitors lounge until the lights went out in the hallway and the nurses station cleared.
While Joni was wide awake wrestling with her emotions after watching The Birdman movie, here came Jackie crawling on the floor toward Joni. Joni saw her through the guardrail of her hospital bed. Joni hissed, Jackie if they catch you they are going to kick you out of here!
Jackie replied,
Shhhh, and lowered the guardrail of the hospital bed, then proceeded to climb
right into bed and snuggled next to Joni. She
took Jonis hand and raised it up so Joni could see that they were holding hands;
this was the only way Joni could know Jackie had even taken her hand. In that sacred moment, they faced each other and
began to sing again, Man of Sorrows, what a name, for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah,
what a Savior.
This met Jonis
need like nothing else. Joni didnt need
another answer, she needed a person and with that person, God wasnt absent anymore.
You dont need
to be a quadriplegic to struggle with the feelings of abandonment by God. Have you ever wondered why God seems absent? Christ knew what those feelings were like. He himself stepped into those feelings as he hung
upon the cross. He said, My God, My God,
why have you forsaken me. To a world
feeling those thoughts, God sent his son, the Man of Sorrows. He understood.
Joni remembered all
these things about Jackie just before her high school reunion. The occasion that brought all these memories
flooding back was when she discovered news about Jackie from another friend on the Hockey
team.
Is Jackie
going to be there? Joni asked.
Joni,
didnt you hear the news?
What
news?
Oh, it
happened last night. You knew that
Jackie and her husband separated, didnt you?
Yes, I had
heard that, Joni said.
Well, you know
her teenage son, Joshua? Hes been having
a lot of problems lately, bad grades in school, hanging around the wrong crowd, dabbling in drugs. He made a profession of faith some time back, but
hes wandered away from the Lord. Last
night the evening news reported that Jackies son was found in a burnt-out fire. He set himself on fire, and his dads house
burned down. He left a suicide note in the mailbox. Joni, didnt anybody tell you?
No. No, I didnt know that.
Joni tried to call
Jackie but couldnt get a hold of her on the phone.
Since she couldnt reach her she immediately wrote her a letter.
He
set himself on fire . . .
Dear Jackie,
Ken and I are
planning to be in
I dont know
what else to write but that. May the Man of
Sorrows be your comfort. And as in the
hospital, I would hope you would feel what I felt and what I still remember to this day
peace profound and a soul settled. Peace,
Jackie, not answers, not reasons. Do you
remember that night 30 years ago? Jackie, I
have never forgotten it.
When Joni and Jackie
did finally spend some time together, Jackie said, Joni, Ive got this cross
around my neck. Its one that my son gave
me. Every time that I start to feel desperate,
like I cant make it, like Im in a prison, then I hold onto that cross.
Jackies
holding the hand of the One who is present. Sometimes
you might need a reminder when you cant feel the hand you are holding. He is the one who says He will never leave or
forsake us. Even when Jackie didnt have
all the answers, she found comfort in the one person who IS the answer.
Gods answer to
our suffering is Himself. Are you holding onto
the cross?
Now I know what
youre probably thinking, Not once during the whole article did you say,
I know what you are thinking, like you usually do. That is because I
discovered I Cor. 2: 11 which says, No one can know what
anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God's
thoughts except God's own Spirit. So we need His Spirit within us to even begin to
know the mind of God, which is much more important than knowing what someone else is
thinking anyhow!
All praise to
God
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are
troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2
Cor. 1:3-4