Tim Moore: In this week's episode of Christ in Prophecy, we are seeking out the pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ in the book of Ezekiel. But, if you missed our previous episode of Christ in Prophecy, then you really missed out on a great blessing. Special guest Joni Eareckson Tada joined us!
Joni shared her amazing testimony that will assuredly give you hope in these troubling times. Her life changed in an instant when she dove into Chesapeake Bay and broke her neck. At the tender age of 17, she became a quadriplegic. Refusing to wallow in despair, she overcame unexpected adversity to serve as an example of how to live by faith through extreme suffering. To cite Jeremiah 29:11, "God had a plan for her, to give her a future and a hope."
Nathan Jones: Joni also guided us through the writings of Jeremiah, the so-called "Prophet of Doom," particularly Jeremiah's second book — Lamentations. Jeremiah's book of laments captures his heart-break at witnessing the ravishing of Jerusalem and the people who refused to repent of their faithlessness and wickedness. Written shortly after the fall of the city in 586 BC, it is the saddest book in the Bible. But, even as he expresses the bitterness crushing his heart in Lamentations, Jeremiah clings to the mercy of God, expressing hope in the midst of despair.
Joni's Amazing Testimony
Tim Moore: Joni, you were confronted with a calamity. Please share how the accident affected you initially, both spiritually and psychologically.
Joni Eareckson Tada: As you can imagine, I was utterly devasted. Here I am seventeen years old, athletic, on the go, and ready to head to college. I had asked the Lord Jesus right before I was to go to college orientation if He would please do something in my life that would bring me closer to Him. I knew that college would have its temptations, and so, I wanted a closer walk with Jesus.
Now, I had prayed that prayer right before high school graduation. And, not but two weeks after my graduation from high school, I took a reckless dive thoughtlessly into shallow water. My head hit the bottom of a sandbar. The impact crunched my neck back, smashing my vertebra, and severing my spinal cord.
I cannot begin to tell you the despair I felt, especially having just asked God to give me a closer walk with Jesus. I remember laying in the hospital bed thinking, "Lord Jesus, if this is your idea of an answer to prayer to draw me closer to you, then I'm never going to trust you with another one of my prayers again." I was devastated, and so I plummeted into depression.
But, thank the Lord, there were Christian friends who were praying. Real quickly friends, when people ask me: "Joni, what should I say, or what should I do, for this person who just suffered a catastrophic injury or illnesses?" My first response is "Pray!" because we wrestle not against the flesh and blood of spinal cord injury or other disabilities, no, we wrestle against powers and principalities that would love nothing more than to keep us steeped in depression. So, I thank God for Christian friends who were praying for me back then.
Nathan Jones: Praise the Lord! Most people might not know, at least in the younger generation, that there was a whole movie made called Joni dedicated to telling your life and experience, should they wish to know more about your testimony. Was there a particular Bible verse that helped you keep going and helped you become an overcomer? Because, Joni, you clearly are an overcomer.
Joni Eareckson Tada: During my depression, there was one Christian friend who pulled up a chair by my hospital bedside and he said: "Joni, I know you want to get out of your despair. Let me give you a Bible verse that can be your anchor. Start here." And then he quoted to me 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
I remember saying to my friend, "What?! No way! I'm not going to do that. I don't feel thankful. I'd be a hypocrite if I did that." And he wisely said, "Joni, let's read the verse again. It doesn't say 'in everything feel thankful,' rather it says 'in everything give thanks.'"
There's a really big difference between trusting God and having trustful feelings. So, you've got to push your emotions aside. Push away that box of Kleenex. Just take a deep breathe, a step of faith, and start giving thanks.
And so, I did just that. I started mouthing thankfulness. I really wasn't thankful, but I wanted to be obedient. And so, I started thanking God that my hospital bed was at least near the window. I thanked God that my family was supportive. I thanked God that people were coming to visit me. I thanked God that after so many months I was finally able to sit up in a wheelchair. I thanked God for the breakfast that the nurses would first serve on my side of the hospital hallway because that meant it would be warm. For all kinds of things, I started giving thanks to God.
Those small, drastic obediences of giving thanks really exercised my muscle of faith. Over time I began to feel thankful. I believe it was God's reward for my faithfulness for relying on His Word. He gave me the emotion of thankfulness. So, I would point to 1 Thessalonians 5:18 as the verse that really kick-started me on the path of righteousness and back to God.
I also think it is important to be realistic. This July made it 55 years that I've been in a wheelchair. I also live daily with chronic pain. I don't sleep very well because I am often awakened by the pain. There are mornings, actually on most mornings, I wake up and before my eyes are even opened I'm crying out: "Oh, God, I cannot do this one more day. I'm so tired of this pain. I don't have the endurance. I can't do quadriplegia anymore!" But, then I add: "Jesus, I can do all things through you who strengthens me. Lord Jesus, I am empty. I am cavernous. I need your filling. I can't do one more hour without You. God help me!"
And, do you know what? It is in this way that God loves to pour out His grace on people. He resists the proud. He resists those who hit the alarm, jump out of bed, throw back the covers, take a shower, scarf down breakfast, and race out the front door on automatic cruise control without hardly ever giving God the tip of the hat of a quiet time. He resists those people. But, He gives grace to the humble. The humble are simply people who wake up in the morning realizing their desperate need for Jesus. It's how I've lived these past 55 years in a wheelchair, which makes my smile pretty authentic, and not made of Colgate, for sure.
The Apex Message
Tim Moore: As we look into the book of Lamentations — a book of lament and despair — the prophet also has a moment when he glimpses the hope that exists even in the midst of despair. In times of trial and despair, what can Jeremiah the prophet teach from the book of Lamentations to those of us living today?
Joni Eareckson Tada: We all know that verse from Jeremiah 29:11, "For the Lord knows the plans He has for us, to give us hope and a future." And yet, Jeremiah wrote that as the people of God were being dragged off into slavery to spend the next 70 years in abject subjection to rulers and domineering tyrants. It was not an easy time for them.
I love Lamentations 3:21-26 because it is so hopeful. Jeremiah says, "But this I call to mind," okay, whenever you're suffering, whenever you are hurting, Lamentations 3:21, "...this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The Lord's great love will keep me from being consumed, for His compassions never fail, they are new every morning." Okay, right there — great is God's faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion, I will wait for Him." This calls to mind the goodness of the Lord Jesus and that He is especially good to those who hope in Him, to the one who seeks Him every single morning.
Nathan Jones: Jeremiah had just witnessed Judah being destroyed by the Babylonians and his people taken away into exile, so he is naturally lamenting. Exile is God's tough love for hundreds and hundreds of years of Israel rebelling against Him and breaking their covenant. God shows them tough love. But, in the midst of their suffering, Jeremiah offers hope that the Lord is also giving. It's rather a dichotomy, isn't it? We've got tough love, but we also have God showing tough hope. How can we all gain that tough hope?
Joni Eareckson Tada: Hope is best described in Lamentations 3:32-33. These verses are anchors in my life, okay. These two verses have changed my life. Jeremiah says, "Though He," that is God, "...brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love." Now, get this, "...for He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone."
So, right there in that one little Bible verse, Lamentations 3:33 really reflects the heart of God. Though He allows grief and affliction to touch us, He doesn't do it willingly, that is, He doesn't do it from His heart. He did not want my diving accident to occur in the sense that He enjoyed it, or got a big kick out of it, or "Oh, let's break this girl's neck and now let's see what I can do with that." No. No. No! Suffering and affliction, when it comes to us by His overarching will and foreordained plan, is something that God takes no delight in.
That one little Bible verse — Lamentations 3:33 — reflects the heart of God like nowhere else in the Bible. Think of it, the book of Lamentations is divided into five chapters, and the first two chapters are each comprised of 22 verses. The last two chapters also have 22 verses in them. However, the middle of the book is chapter three, and it comprises 66 verses. Now, here is the intriguing part, the exact middle of that chapter is verse 33 which reads, "He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone." Wow! That Bible verse falls in the exact middle of the entire book of Lamentations. It is right at the apex of the entire book.
I think there's a good reason why, because when it comes to suffering, whether it was the suffering that the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of to God's people, or the suffering that God might allow in our lives, God wants us to know that He has the heart of a Father. We may not understand His ways, but He definitely wants you to understand that He has the heart of a kind and compassionate "Abba, Father, Daddy."
It doesn't make God happy to see us hit with hardship. But, oh, my goodness, it does make God happy when He sees all of the things He can do in your life due to it, and how He will encourage others through it, if you would but trust in Him and believe that His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!
(Re)watch the full episode of Christ in Prophecy with special guest Joni Eareckson Tada!
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