Your afflictions will always be a concern but they’re never random. The trials God has designed are to perfect, mature, and complete you. You can have contentment even in your concerns that your future is always bright.
King David wrote, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and that is Psalm 138:8. And maybe you resonate with it because, at this moment, there are a number of things that concern you. Well, aren’t you grateful – aren’t we all thankful – that God is in all of those concerns – and using them to perfect us. Now, that thought is worth unpacking for a moment. Because you may be concerned [very concerned] about a recent diagnosis of cancer. Or your doctor says that the numbness and tingling in your legs is multiple sclerosis. You could be concerned that your child [or grandchild] is showing signs of autism. Or in the current economy, you simply cannot – you cannot – make ends meet. Something’s going to have to give and it’s a big concern.
I know that for me, when I first learned that my paralysis was total and permanent, you better believe I was concerned. We all have big things that bother us; things that keep us up at night, that worry us and cause anxiety. What about the future? How will we manage? Is insurance going to cover it? Will there be someone to help us? How will I move forward into life? All those thoughts were racing through my mind when I first learned of my paralysis. But I had to remember [actually, I had to learn afresh] that God was in all those concerns. No detail was about to escape him. Everything about my problems [and they were pretty big problems]; everything about a life of paralysis had his undivided attention. And for what end? God wanted to perfect me. It was Psalm 138: “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”
Now, I did not understand [actually many people don’t understand] what it means when it says the Lord will perfect us. But when it comes to distressing trials like paralysis or cancer or financial woes, James 1:3 in the King James version says it best. It goes, “The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be [and here comes that word again]; that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing!” Right there is God’s goal behind every concern that troubles you. He wants to mature you in your trials; he wants to make you complete, whole, and entire and [here’s the best part] wanting nothing. That is, he wants you to be content, to desire nothing more than to rest in his hands as he does his work in our lives.
The Living Bible paraphrases Psalm 138 this way; it says, “The Lord will work out his plans for my life.” Since none of us know how long we will live, God may be close to completing his work; he may have made us as mature as he intended for us in this life or God may have a long way to go. The encouraging thing is, he’s at work in the things that concern you. In your triumphs and golden moments. In your hardships and disappointments. These are all evidence of the perfecting work of God in you and through you. So yes, afflictions – especially new and hard ones – will always be a concern. But they are never random. They are never arbitrary or by chance; the things that concern you are not haphazard. The trials God has designed to perfect you, and to make you mature, and complete, and wanting nothing are designed by the Lord just for you. So, Christian, smile and smile from the heart. You are still under construction and when God is finished with you, he will take you home to be with him. And you can have contentment, even in your concerns that your future is always bright.
© Joni and Friends