Do you ever feel like you’re in over your head with your suffering? Hold fast to the promises of God – they are ways out of despair. These promises will give you strength for the journey, because you are not far from home.
If you’re weary or hurting or in pain? This is for you.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I am sitting on a hip today that feels totally out of joint, if not broken. But I have felt this pain before and if I were to lie down, I know it would still feel the same. My eyes are weary of all the discomfort, and although you cannot see it here on the radio, my eyes look like slits. And it’s why I’m drinking in Psalm 119:92 as though it were an elixir. The psalmist says, "If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction." Or, a paraphrase of that, "If your promises had not been my delight, I would have perished long ago in my disability." On days like this one, when I’m in pain, the promises of God mean everything. Utterly everything: the promise that God is my ever-present help in this trouble. That he has not abandoned me or forsaken me. That though I am hard-pressed on all sides, I will not be crushed. The promise that God's grace is sufficient. That even this pain is accruing for me an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison. And so many more promises like these. I live on them. My trust in God is anchored to them.
And it's exactly the point behind 1 Corinthians 10:13, "The temptations in your life [that is, the temptation to despair, doubt, or complain] are no different from what others experience. [But] God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. [For] When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." What is that "way out?" It is the promises that God makes in the Bible. Each one is a "way of escape," a way out. God’s promises keep you from despair, doubting, or complaining. God’s promises are ready to shore you up when you think that you are in above your head; when you feel that you simply cannot stand. And so, on a day like this when pain is so bad, I hold fast to those promises that I mentioned. For I would have perished in my afflictions, had they not been my delight.
And also, I found such great encouragement today in these words from Bishop Ryle today. Because I needed this reminder; he says, “The time is very short. A few more years of watching and praying, a few more tossings on the sea of this world and a few more deaths and changes, a few more winters and summers, and all will be over. We shall have fought our last battle and shall need to fight no more. The presence and company of Christ will make amends for all we suffer here below. When we see as we have been seen, and look back on the journey of life, we shall wonder at our own faintness of heart. [And] We shall marvel that we made so much of our cross and thought so little of our crown. We shall marvel that in ‘counting the cost’ we could ever doubt on which side the balance of profit lay. Let us take courage [then]. [For] We are not far from home.”
Oh, friend, do you sense this on days when you’re overwhelmed by pain? Well, I hope so because you’re not alone. There are others who are hurting, and yet holding fast to the hope of heaven, as well as the promises of God. I share about this in my pamphlet “No Longer Alone,” and I’d love to send you your own copy. It’s yours for the asking at joniradio.org. And let me repeat those encouraging words, for on that day “We shall marvel that we made so much of our cross and thought so little of our crown.” Wow. Let’s take courage, friend, because we are not far from home.
© Joni and Friends