Understanding God’s role in your suffering is not easy. Does he ordain it? Allow it? Is he truly in control? As Joni reflects on her accident, she looks to God’s Word for answers to tough questions!
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Did God put me in this wheelchair? Or did he just allow it?
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and that is a question that will make you sit up and listen, right? Actually, it’s a question I often see on my Facebook page. It’s a sensitive question: How and to what extent does God permit suffering? Does he plan it? Ordain it? Allow it? Or, as my mentor Steve Estes once told me, he said: “Joni, God put you in that wheelchair, but he did it for a reason.” At first when Steve said that, it made me bristle. God didn’t put me in this wheelchair; it was… it was…well…it was an accident. Back then, I could not imagine that something as awful as total paralysis would be laid at God’s feet! Oh, my goodness! God is supposed to be good, and paralysis is bad, right? So, my accident was just that: a bad accident, that’s all. A crazy, stupid, bad accident!
Well, not quite. Because over time, I would discover that my accident wasn’t just a crazy, stupid fluke. If you look closely at the Bible, God claims to run the world. Not “could run it if he wanted to” or “steps in when he has to.” No, he does run the world, all the time, every minute. Even when we suffer. God claims that nothing touches you and me without first receiving his nod, his permission, his approval. In Psalm 139, he tells us that all of our days – and that’s all of them; even the awful ones – all our days were ordained for us. That’s the word God uses. And it doesn’t simply mean that he, you know, simply saw the bad things that were going to happen. No, it means: “This is my plan; this is the way I want things to go.”
And then, God says without blushing in Lamentations 3, “Is it not from the mouth of the most High that both calamities and good things come?” And then in Exodus 4, God says, “Who gave his mouth? Who makes him deaf? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord, who does these things?” Oh my goodness, these Bible verses – and many more – rocked my world. God claims to do all this without forcing our hand or bypassing our will.
So back to my question. Did God “put” me in this wheelchair? Well, according to Exodus, and the Psalms, and Lamentations, yes. But it does not mean he took great delight in it, or enjoyed it, or “wanted” my paralysis to happen in the sense that he was happy about it or glad about it. No, he permitted what he hated. Like any compassionate Father, it grieved his heart to see me hurt so. However, he permitted what he hated to accomplish something glorious that was worth the pain And that is Christ in me, the hope of glory. That, plus all the many wonderful things God has done in my life through the years to bring other people with disabilities to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Oh friend, when I look at that, I am so grateful, so glad that God ordained this wheelchair for me; that he permitted it, that he planned it, allowed it, designed it, ordained it, and, yes, that he put that wheelchair in my life.
Okay, I realize we are talking about some hard concepts here, and there’s so much more to say about it. And it’s why I want to give you a special book today. It’s called “A Path through Suffering” by Elisabeth Elliot. We only have a limited supply, so be sure you go to joniradio.org and click on the Today’s Gift button. It’ll explain so much more, this book will, about the way of God’s sovereignty in our suffering. Learn more about it at joniradio.org where we love sharing hope in your hardship.
© Joni and Friends