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Note from Lee: I have been planning to write
a piece on "suffering" as it relates to God's Sovereignty.
This topic is a stumbling block to many people who are under the
mistaken impression that God does not want any of us to suffer but
that He is powerless to do anything about it. Many nonbelievers
equate suffering with evil and they see the existence of evil in
the world as proof that a "loving, omnipotent god" can
not possibly exist or else He would eliminate it. The believer,
however, understands that God has ORDAINED suffering for two reasons:
1) to perfect and conform His elect into the image of his Son and
2) to afflict and further harden the hearts of those who are his
enemy. As I began to read up on this topic, I came across the following
article and it was much better than anything I could write. Joni
Eareckson Tada is a Christian, a best-selling author and has been
a quadriplegic since a diving accident in 1967. While I am not familiar
with everything she has written, her understanding of the Sovereignty
of God as expressed in this article is profound and perfectly in
line with Reformed Theology. Enjoy!
Suffering
and the Sovereignty of God
by Joni
Eareckson Tada
When I was paralyzed and in the hospital, and when I first read
the book of Job, I felt confused. The way I pictured my accident
was far different than what I read of Job's story. I had reasoned
that it was pure dumb luck that I happened to go to the beach that
day. And it was my misfortune that I swam out to the raft. It was
the law of averages that the tide just happened to be low.
People with disabilities, more than most, look for answers to the
questions of "who's in charge?" and "why did this
happen?". And a disabled person is only pushed further into
hopelessness and despair if he thinks that his multiple sclerosis
or spinal cord injury, birth defect or hearing impairment is all
a result of chance or the random acts of others.
That's why the stage upon which the book of Job is set is so important.
In Job chapter 1, God makes it clear that he's in charge. He gave
permission. Satan conspires to use everything from the Sabeans to
the Chaldeans, from freak storms to fire from the skies...but God
is the one who ultimately grants the devil permission.
At that point, I figured if Satan and God were involved in my accident
at all, then it must be that the devil twisted God's arm for permission.
I pictured God saying in a hesitant way, "Well, I guess it'll
be okay for you to do such and such...but just this once, and please
don't hurt her too much."
Then I reasoned that once God granted permission, he then nervously
had to run behind the devil with a repair kit, patching up what
Satan had ruined, mumbling to himself, "Oh great, now how am
I going to work..." Worse yet, I thought that when I became
disabled I had missed God's best for me, and the Lord was then forced
to go with some divine Plan B.
I think this is the false picture many people with disabilities
have where it concerns their physical problems, God and the devil.
They assume that Satan's schemes throw a monkey wrench into God's
plans, catching him off guard, and presenting God with problems
he wishes would never happen.
But how silly. The truth is that God is infinitely more powerful
than Satan. Satan is a created being, and a fallen one at that.
And in the book of Job, God did not hesitantly and nervously grant
permission to the devil where it concerned Job's problems. Rather,
God was the one who introduced the subject of Job to Satan.
So who is ultimately in control? God. And not only is God not frustrated
or hindered by Satan's schemes, God actually used the devil's deeds
to serve his own ends and accomplish his own purposes. Let's consider
the suffering of Christ. Satan played the leading role in instigating
the whole thing. He entered the heart of Judas. Satan sponsored
evil was working in the hearts of the Jewish mob.
The early Christians praised God that the men responsible for Christ's
death had only done "what your power and will had decided beforehand
should happen" (Acts 4:28). God was in control in a sovereign
and powerful way. God aborted the plans of the devil as well as
the intentions of those evil men. The early Christians viewed the
crucifixion much like Joseph viewed his problems: "You intended
it for evil, but God meant it for my good."
James Stewart, the great Scottish theologian, put it this way:
"The very triumphs of his foes he used for their defeat. He
compelled their dark achievements to sub serve his ends, not theirs.
They nailed him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they
were bringing the world to his feet. They gave him a cross, not
guessing that he would make it a throne."
The devil's motive in the crucifixion was to stop God's Son. God's
motive was to throw open the floodgates of heaven. This has a profound
parallel for people with disabilities. The devil's motive in my
disability was to shipwreck my faith by throwing a wheelchair my
way. God's motive was to thwart the devil and use the wheelchair
to change me and make me more like Christ through it all.
God's "use" of a disability raises the next question:
"To what end and for what purposes does God permit illnesses
and injuries?" I tread lightly here because God desires we
trust him without us having the blueprint laid out before us...God
owes us no explanations, he did enough explaining at the cross.
But there are reasons, there are purposes. People with birth defects
are not the brunt of some divine cruel joke, God wants us to understand
that he is in control for good reasons.
The purposes of God in a disability, in any suffering, are multiple.
I could not begin to list all that the Bible has to say. (Anthony
Zeoli in his book, Why Do Christians Suffer?, lists 50!) But here
are just three:
II Corinthians 12:9: "But he said to me, 'My grace is
sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.'
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses
so that Christ's power may rest on me."
Paul, who wrote this, had a disability. He also had to face prison,
hunger, shipwrecks and beatings. God was allowing weakness to remain
in Paul so that his strength might be realized and that Paul might
learn the profound truth that God's power shows up best in weak
people.
Philippians 4:12,14: "I know what it is to be in need,
and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret
of being content in any and every situation...yet it was good
of you to share in my troubles."
The Philippians participated with Paul in the midst of his circumstances.
A disability can be used of God to force a sense of community among
the body of believers.
II Corinthians 1:3 4: "Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God
of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we
can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves
have received from God."
A disability can be God's way of reaching down and stretching our
heart's capacity not only for himself, but for others.
People with disabilities are a vivid reminder to us that God, in
his holy and sovereign will, uses suffering to achieve his ultimate
end in our lives: To conform us to the image of his Son. (Romans
8:28,29). This fact speaks to the many who would claim that only
healing and wholeness are the birthright of the Christian and the
only means to compel people to believe in God's word.
While it would be wonderful if God were to perform everywhere and
always the kind of grand scale miracles we saw when Jesus walked
the earth, we should not ignore the role that suffering can play
in the proclamation of the gospel. We should not think that miracles
are the ultimate weapon to convince a sinful world of the power
of Christ. Remember that at the end of Jesus' own life, though he
had done all kinds of miracles, people said, "If you're really
the Messiah, come down off that cross and we'll believe."
God chose, and Jesus willed, at that moment on the cross, to fulfill
the sovereign plan of God and allow the complete purposes of suffering
to hold sway. He did not need to prove his divinity, nor compel
men to believe, through a miracle. Rather, he allowed the ugliness
of man's sin to keep him there. And that choice to yield to the
sovereignty of God has made all the difference for the millions
who have believed on him since that day.
Joni Eareckson Tada, Lausanne Senior Associate for Disabled
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