The Works of God

A word from Joni, when she was in the midst of terrible pain in addition to her disability (paragraph formatting is mine):

In the course of some of these recent days as I’ve fought for just the smallest bits of normalcy and peace in my war with pain, I don’t feel as if I have very much left to offer at all.

But in the final scheme of things, I know it doesn’t matter.

He is the one who will make the most of the little I’ve got.

He is the one who took note of the widow’s mite, dropped into the treasury, and affirmed that her little was worth more in heaven’s sight than the offering of those who had given much, but had much more held in reserve.

Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, Kindle Locations 1299-1303.

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God uses the language and experience of disability to help us understand how we are spiritually: blind, deaf, and dead.  We need a radical, life-giving Savior who pursues us – and God gave us Jesus!

When addressing the unsaved, preachers often draw an analogy between God’s sending of the Gospel to the sinner, and a sick man in bed with some healing medicine on a table by his side: all he needs to do is reach forth his hand and take it.

But in order for this illustration to be in any wise true to the picture which Scripture gives us of the fallen and depraved sinner, the sick man in bed must be described as one who is blind (Eph. 4:18) so that he cannot see the medicine, his hand paralysed (Rom. 5:6) so that he is unable to reach forth for it, and his heart not only devoid of all confidence in the medicine but filled with hatred against the physician himself (John 15:18).

O what superficial views of man’s desperate plight are now entertained! Christ came here not to help those who were willing to help themselves, but to do for His people what they were incapable of doing for themselves: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isa. 42:7).

A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, p. 112.

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Contrary to popular belief, God does not place us on the sidelines of life when we walk through hardship. Rather, he takes us to the center of the playing field, so that the world can watch and observe his faithfulness in our lives.

God delivers his people in two ways: he delivers us from our trials, and he delivers us through our trials. The interesting thing is we do not have a choice as to which path we travel. Whether we experience his miracles of deliverance, endure hardship and trials, or even face death, we remain, now and forevermore, his witnesses. This is the essence of our life in him.

John Eaves, An Aim that Keeps Me Pressing On in O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, edited by Nancy Guthrie, pp. 76-77.

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More from The Gospel of John by J.C. Ryle (paragraph formatting mine):

Sickness, in the very nature of things, can never be anything but trying to flesh and blood. Our bodies and souls are strangely linked together, and that which vexes and weakens the body can hardly fail to vex the mind and soul.

But sickness, we must always remember, is no sign that God is displeased with us; no, more, it is generally sent for the good of our souls.

It tends to draw our affections away from this world, and to direct them to things above. It sends us to our Bibles, and teaches us to pray better. It helps to prove our faith and patience, and shows us the real value of our hope in Christ.

It reminds us that we are not to live always, and tunes and trains our hearts for our great change. Then let us be patient and cheerful when we are laid aside by illness.

Let us believe that the Lord Jesus loves us when we are sick no less than when we are well.

J.C. Ryle, The Gospel of John, KindleLocation 3565-72.

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I know I’ve been sharing things from J.C. Ryle a lot these days.  I’ve really been encouraged!  Paragraph formatting is mine:

The servants of Christ in every age should treasure up the doctrine before us, and remember it in time of need. It is “full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly people.”

Let such never forget that they live in a world where God overrules all times and events, and where nothing can happen but by God’s permission. The very hairs of their heads are all numbered.

Sorrow and sickness, and poverty, and persecution, can never touch them, unless God sees fit.

They may boldly say to every cross–“You could have no power against me, except it were given you from above.”

Then let them work on confidently. They are immortal, until their work is done.

Let them suffer patiently, if needs be that they suffer. Their “times are in God’s hand.” (Psalm. 31:15.)

That hand guides and governs all things here below, and makes no mistakes.

J.C. Ryle, The Gospel of John, Kindle Location 2473-79.

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A word to us from J.C. Ryle on John 5:1-18, the healing of the paralytic (emphases in bold are mine):

Every sickness and sorrow is the voice of God speaking to us. Each has its peculiar message. Happy are they who have an eye to see God’s hand, and an ear to hear His voice, in all that happens to them. Nothing in this world happens by chance.

And as it is with sickness, so it is with recovery. Renewed health should send us back to our post in the world with a deeper hatred of sin, a more thorough watchfulness over our own ways, and a more constant purpose of mind to live for God. Far too often the excitement and novelty of returning health tempt us to forget the vows and intentions of the sick-room. There are spiritual dangers attending a recovery! Well would it be for us all after illness to grave these words on our hearts, “Let me sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto me.”

Let us leave the passage with grateful hearts, and bless God that we have such a Gospel and such a Savior as the Bible reveals. Are we ever sick and ill? Let us remember that Christ sees, and knows, and can heal as He thinks fit. Are we ever in trouble? Let us hear in our trouble the voice of God, and learn to hate sin more.

J.C. Ryle, The Gospel of John, Kindle Loc. 1468-77.

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J.C. Ryle, on how to think to rightly about Jesus’ miracles (emphases in bold and paragraph formatting are mine):

Regard every one of His miracles as an emblem and figure of spiritual things. See in it a lovely picture of what He is able to do for your soul.

He that could raise the dead with a word can just as easily raise man from the death of sin.

He that could give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb, can also make sinners to see the kingdom of God, hear the joyful sound of the Gospel, and speak forth the praise of redeeming love.

He that could heal leprosy with a touch, can heal any disease of heart. He that could cast out devils can bid every besetting sin yield to His grace.

Oh, begin to read Christ’s miracles in this light! Wicked, and bad, and corrupt as you may feel, take comfort in the thought that you are not beyond Christ’s power to heal. Remember that in Christ there is not only a fulness of mercy, but a fulness of power.

J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, p. 211.

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