Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to Joni and Friends. I grieve to think how I treated my friends when I was first injured years ago, back in the hospital. They were kids from my neighborhood, from church, from my high school. They had heard about my accident and they came, just wanting to, well, be in the hospital with me, just hang out with me. But I certainly wasn't there for them! These friends would sit by my bedside while I lay there in stubborn silence. They would bring magazines, and I would turn my head the other way or shrug my shoulders, saying I wasn’t interested. My friends would offer to wheel me outside, but I would reply, “No, I’d just rather sit here with the TV.”
A few stopped coming around, and who could blame them? I’m sure that I provoked a lot of exasperation in them. I needled, I incited and tried to aggravate. I'm not sure what I was trying to do there, and I'm no psychologist, but it was as though I wanted to see if I could push them past the point of no return... I wanted to see how far their friendship would go.
You know, we sometimes do that with God. Deep down we know we probably provoke Him with our sloppy prayers. We feel He must be peeved with our ho-hum approach to Bible study. We’re certain that He’s irritated with our sins and annoyed with the constant ups and downs of our spiritual walk. We almost want to push to see how far his love will go. We sadly assume that God must be exasperated to the point of giving up on us.
Now let me give you a fair warning here. The truth is, God may very well give us over to the enemy for discipline. 1 Corinthians 5 tells how God can hand us over to the adversary to be tested in order to destroy the sinful nature, and believe me, you don't want to go down that road, friend, you really don’t. But a great counterbalance is Isaiah 49:15-16. The Lord himself says there, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget,” God says, “I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Oh friend, if we are truly a part of God's family, we can be sure – we can be absolutely certain -- that He will love us through the tough times. Children can be exasperating—even children of God—but the Lord will never forget you. He will never give up on you. Nothing, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities will be able to separate you from God's constant and abiding love.
You know, I talk a little bit about this in a booklet I want to give you this week. It’s called “When Winter Gives Way to Spring.” It’ll give you plenty of encouragement when it comes to the long-suffering of our Lord toward you. So please visit me today at joniandfriendsradio.org and ask for your free copy, or you can call 1-888-522-5664.Or you can always write me at Joni and Friends, that’s P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA 91376. Either way, I want you to get this little booklet “When Winter Gives Way to Spring” and I want to put it into your hands right away. So let me hear from you before the week is out, okay? Finally, would you please join me in not provoking our merciful and patient God today. He’s not peeved with your ho-hum approach to spiritual life. He’s not exasperated to the point where he’s just going to throw up his hands and say “That’s it. No more of this person. I’m out of here.” No, today let’s you and I praise Him for His kindness. Because His friendship goes pretty far… all the way to the cross and back.
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