The painful experiences in your life – things that threaten to crush you – always have a purpose. Contentment comes when you can smile at your afflictions and trust that God is weaving your cross into a crown.
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Psalm 138 says, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”
And that’s a verse that has buoyed my spirits through tough times. Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada, and recently while I was flipping through that excellent little devotional book “Streams in the Desert,” the author, Mrs. Cowman – who was, by the way, a missionary in China back in the early 1900s – she had some precious insights about Psalm 138. Let me quote from her directly. She writes:
“There is a divine mystery in suffering, one that has a strange and supernatural power and has never been completely understood by human reason. For no one has ever developed deep spirituality or holiness without experiencing a great deal of suffering. When a person who suffers reaches a point where he can be calm and carefree, inwardly smiling at his own afflictions, and no longer asking God to be delivered from it, then the suffering has accomplished its blessed ministry, perseverance has ‘finished its work,’ as it says in James 1. At that point, the pain of the Crucifixion has begun to weave itself into a crown.”
I like the way Mrs. Cowman says that because there really does come a point when the pain of the cross that we carry begins to weave itself into a glorious crown. And oh, the contentment of being able to smile at your own afflictions. I am so very glad that those anxious days of, you know, like “Oh man, I’m so sick and tired of the stupid wheelchair.” I'm so glad those days are behind me. Because now, when I lie in bed at night or look at my empty wheelchair over in the corner of the bedroom, I smile. I recognize the ministry it has accomplished in my life.
And I wonder – how about the things that have crucified you in the past? Those things that once crushed you. Are those experiences now being woven into a golden crown? Can you sense it? Can you feel it? I do, and this is going to sound a little funny, but it’s a little like that fairytale of, you know, Rumpelstiltskin who took straw and wove it into gold. Because somewhere along the line, you really do begin to feel the weight of that cross being exchanged for the weight of a golden crown. And nothing can match that glorious assurance that your pain has been transformed into something profound and pleasant. It’s like you experience a fresh stillness before the Lord it is. Contentment comes so much more easily, complaining becomes a thing of the past as you no longer imagine castles in the sky or pie in the sky. And the only choice that really matters is choosing Jesus in all things, in everything, especially your suffering. Then you find that your emotions become weaned away from the world, like, “Let circumstances be what they may.” That, friend, is contentment that is so sweet and secure – the kind of contentment I wouldn’t trade for anything, not even being on my feet.
Friend, do you have that calm assurance that God really is causing all things, good and bad, past and present, to “work together for good,” like it says in Romans 8? “Streams in the Desert” puts it this way; it says, “What a blessing to lose our own strength, wisdom, plans, and desires and to become like a peaceful Sea of Galilee under the feet of Jesus!” Wow, wouldn’t that be a great gift to receive for Christmas?! Actually, it already is yours for the believing, the gift for the trusting. It’s yours for the submitting as God gives you the grace to bear the cross that he wants you to weave into a crown. Don’t forget to drop by my radio page at joniradio.org before the day is out because this is your last opportunity to pick up your copy of “The Christmas Story.” Finally, may your cross soon become your crown.
© Joni and Friends