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In
her book, When God Weeps, Joni Eareckson Tada describes a group of friends
who sang a song to her:
"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know, I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living, Just because He lives!" |
They were
a group of friends in wheelchairs in Ghana, West Africa. All of them, like
Joni , quadriplegics, but "having stubs for hands, affected by polio, or
amputation, living in a miserable pesthole where the African night smelled
and looked like pitch. Streets wet with urine and rotting garbage. Oppressive
heat. People penniless. A girl with no hands, no legs to walk, no bed, and
not even a fan, living on concrete. It doesn't sound like God is doing a
very good job here."
But this singing? Joni describes it as "joy out
of this world." Their leader said to Joni , "Our God is bigger than your
God." Another boy who lived in a box by the trash heap said, "You Westerners
are the ones we can't understand. God has given you so much, you have been
so blessed... why are so many people in your country so unhappy?"
Yes,
our birthday lists seem to get longer and longer as we take for granted
our medical insurance and unemployment insurance. Joni aptly puts it: "We
want what we do not have. We have what we do not want. And we are unhappy."
She concludes her first chapter, "I'm Hurting
Bad" with, "Who is this God who bids us crawl over broken glass just for
the pleasure of His company?" |
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Much
suffering exists in our world. Legislation cannot eradicate it. People
want pills, programs, and perhaps the power of God to get rid of it. Why
does God permit suffering? We are told to expect suffering in Romans
8:17, Matthew
24. Suffering also reminds us that somehow, we are still human. Chuck
Swindol writes, "As Christ expressed His humanity by saying, "My God,
my God, why have You forsaken me," the same should be for us that we should
not deny our humanity." Our suffering reminds us of Christ's suffering
on the cross, something we cannot romanticize.
You may suffer extreme pain or harsh circumstances.
"Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should
follow in His steps" 1
Peter 2:21. Take up your cross, and follow Him, your Savior who suffered
for you. As those quadriplegics do, we can live because He endured the
cross and now He lives. We can face tomorrow just because He lives!
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