One of my all-time favorite scripture verses is from Ephesians 2:10 where we are told:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Don’t you just love the picture of that? God, in his sovereignty, knows exactly who needs what kind of compassion extended to them, and when – and then he allows us to be part of that healing by creating the opportunity for us to walk right into that hurting person’s life.
I’m reminded of that often through this grief ministry. I see both ends of it. Clearly there are times when someone has called or texted or stopped by or sent a note exactly when I needed it most. God has also graciously used me to be a blessing in someone’s life when they, too, desperately needed to see God’s hand.
But that concept took a bit of a U-turn in one of my devotions from Joni Eareckson Tada (“More Precious Than Silver”). She was talking about a conversation she had with a friend where they both were grateful that they didn’t have the other’s challenge.
As you probably know, Joni has been a quadriplegic since a diving accident when she was 17 years old. Her friend was blind and deaf and had just gone through a hospital stay where she lost control of her muscles.
Oh my! Not sure I’d be a great example of the Christian walk with either set of disabilities. Here’s what Joni said that truly got my attention and changed my perspective on suffering once again:
“God hand-tailors your trials…No, God probably hasn’t called you to be a quadriplegic, and you probably will never be blind and deaf. But he has called you to bear up under the burden he has placed on your shoulders. He thinks you can do it. Fact is, you can. And if you think you can’t, take heart: That’s when his grace shows up best.”
The idea of God hand-tailoring our trials for each of us was new to me. I share often about how God does his best work through our trials, and I have lived that reality for years now. But it’s always been in the sense that God knew exactly what he wanted to do with this particular trial. He wasn’t surprised by it, and he had a plan to grow me through it.
But to think about him tailor-making the difficulties in my life specifically and uniquely for me was mind-blowing, Not sure why it should be because that’s exactly the pattern we see in the Ephesians text.
Why should I treasure God’s foreknowledge on the good stuff, but be a little hesitant to acknowledge it on the hard things? When I’m a strong believer in God’s sovereignty, why was I taken back with the idea of him tailor-making the hard stuff?
Honestly, I don’t have a great answer for that! In part, I believe we probably want to think of God in terms of the blessings he bestows on us, and not as a God who designs our trials. But I need to remember that those trials can often result in even greater blessings if we allow God to walk beside us, and grow us through them. So, in the end, both good and bad circumstances result in the good stuff.
I’d like to close with the prayer that Joni ended this devotion with because it so perfectly illustrates our proper heart position before God on this complicated subject of suffering, regardless of whether it’s physical like Joni and her friend, or emotional/spiritual/relational.
“Father God, enable me to bear up under my burden by your grace. Help me to remember that you have handpicked my circumstances to accomplish your purposes for my life. May I humbly submit to your choice for me.” Amen.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Romans 11:33